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  • Title: Concomitant inhibition of DNA methyltransferase and BCL-2 protein function synergistically induce mitochondrial apoptosis in acute myelogenous leukemia cells.
    Author: Tsao T, Shi Y, Kornblau S, Lu H, Konoplev S, Antony A, Ruvolo V, Qiu YH, Zhang N, Coombes KR, Andreeff M, Kojima K, Konopleva M.
    Journal: Ann Hematol; 2012 Dec; 91(12):1861-70. PubMed ID: 22893484.
    Abstract:
    DNA methylation and BLC-2 are potential therapeutic targets in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We investigated pharmacologic interaction between the DNA methyltransferase inhibitor 5-azacytidine (5-AZA) and the BCL-2 inhibitor ABT-737. Increased BCL-2 expression determined by reverse phase protein analysis was associated with poor survival in AML patients with unfavorable cytogenetics (n = 195). We found that 5-AZA, which itself has modest apoptotic activity, acts synergistically with ABT-737 to induce apoptosis. The 5-AZA/ABT-737 combination enhanced mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization, as evidenced by effective conformational activation of BAX and ∆ψ(m) loss. Although absence of p53 limited apoptotic activities of 5-AZA and ABT-737 as single agents, the combination synergistically induced apoptosis independent of p53 expression. 5-AZA down-regulated MCL-1, known to mediate resistance to ABT-737, in a p53-independent manner. The 5-AZA/ABT-737 combination synergistically induced apoptosis in AML cells in seven of eight patients. 5-AZA significantly reduced MCL-1 levels in two of three samples examined. Our data provide a molecular rationale for this combination strategy in AML therapy.
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