Blockade of oncogenic NOTCH1 with the SERCA inhibitor CAD204520 in T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia

The identification of SERCA (sarco/endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase) as a target for modulating gain-of-function NOTCH1 mutations in Notch-dependent cancers has spurred the development of this compound class for cancer therapeutics. Despite the innate toxicity challenge associated with SERCA inh...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Marchesini, M, Gherli, A, Montanaro, A, Patrizi, L, Sorrentino, C, Pagliaro, L, Rompietti, C, Kitara, S, Heit, S, Olesen, CE, Møller, JV, Savi, M, Bocchi, L, Vilella, R, Rizzi, F, Baglione, M, Rastelli, G, Loiacono, C, La Starza, R, Mecucci, C, Stegmaier, K, Aversa, F, Stilli, D, Lund Winther, A-M, Sportoletti, P, Bublitz, M, Dalby-Brown, W, Roti, G
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Cell Press 2020
Description
Summary:The identification of SERCA (sarco/endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase) as a target for modulating gain-of-function NOTCH1 mutations in Notch-dependent cancers has spurred the development of this compound class for cancer therapeutics. Despite the innate toxicity challenge associated with SERCA inhibition, we identified CAD204520, a small molecule with better drug-like properties and reduced off-target Ca2+ toxicity compared with the SERCA inhibitor thapsigargin. In this work, we describe the properties and complex structure of CAD204520 and show that CAD204520 preferentially targets mutated over wild-type NOTCH1 proteins in T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). Uniquely among SERCA inhibitors, CAD204520 suppresses NOTCH1-mutated leukemic cells in a T-ALL xenografted model without causing cardiac toxicity. This study supports the development of SERCA inhibitors for Notch-dependent cancers and extends their application to cases with isolated mutations in the PEST degradation domain of NOTCH1, such as MCL or chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).