New approaches are needed for the treatment of patients with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) who fail to achieve remission with chemotherapy. Analysis of the effects of pan-PIM protein kinase inhibitors on human T-ALL cell lines demonstrated that the sensitive cell lines expressed higher PIM1 protein kinase levels, whereas T-ALL cell lines with NOTCH mutations tended to have lower levels of PIM1 kinase and were insensitive to these inhibitors. NOTCH-mutant cells selected for resistance to gamma secretase inhibitors developed elevated PIM1 kinase levels and increased sensitivity to PIM inhibitors. Gene profiling using a publically available T-ALL dataset demonstrated overexpression of PIM1 in the majority of early T-cell precursor (ETP)-ALLs and a small subset of non-ETP ALL. While the PIM inhibitors blocked growth, they also stimulated ERK and STAT5 phosphorylation, demonstrating that activation of additional signaling pathways occurs with PIM inhibitor treatment. To block these pathways, Ponatinib, a broadly active tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) used to treat chronic myelogenous leukemia, was added to this PIM-inhibitor regimen. The combination of Ponatinib with a PIM inhibitor resulted in synergistic T-ALL growth inhibition and marked apoptotic cell death. Treatment of mice engrafted with human T-ALL with these two agents significantly decreased the tumor burden and improved the survival of treated mice. This dual therapy has the potential to be developed as a novel approach to treat T-ALL with high PIM expression.

Ponatinib is a third-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor approved for Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia and Philadelphia Chromosome Positive Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and it is the only tyrosine kinase inhibitor able to bind T315I mutation of BCR-ABL1 (Breakpoint Cluster Region and Abelson1) kinase protein. However, the cardiotoxic adverse reactions related to Ponatinib treatment can result in serious health problems and discontinuation of the therapy. The underlying mechanisms of Ponatinib-induced cardiotoxicity are not known. This study hypothesized that Ponatinib downregulates leptin and serpine-1 expressions and inhibits angiogenesis through the adipokine-induced p38 MAPK signaling pathway in mouse hearts. To evaluate this proposed pathway C57BL/6J mice were divided into two groups: control and ponatinib. After 14 days of the injections, mice were sacrificed and the heart samples were collected for histological analysis and evaluation of mRNA and protein expression levels. The RNA sequence analysis of heart samples was used to detect the main angiogenic markers affected by the treatment. Further analysis was done by Western Blot, RT-PCR, and immunohistochemistry. The heart function was assessed by echocardiography. Overall, the data indicated that the angiogenic response was inhibited by Ponatinib treatment through leptin and serpine-1-mediated p38 MAPK pathway. The anti-angiogenic response is an important underlying pathological mechanism that could lead to disruption of heart function and the echocardiography data confirmed that ponatinib-treated mice showed impaired heart function. Our study suggested that the potential underlying mechanism of Ponatinib-induced cardiotoxicity can be explained by serpine-1 and leptin-mediated angiogenic pathways.

Bakgrund: Vid kronisk myeolid leukemi (KML) överproducerar blodstamceller omogna granulocyter som kan öka risken för infektioner, anemi och lätta blödningar. Ifall sjukdomen inte åtgärdas i tidigt skede så kan cancercellerna konkrurera ut friska blodceller vilket kan leda till ett livshotande tillstånd. KML drabbar främst vuxna över 55 år. Orsaken till KML är nästan alltid en somatisk mutation i blodcellerna som leder till förändring i karyotypen, den abnormala kromosomen kallas för Philadelphia kromosomen. De olika behandlingalternativ som finns mot KML inkluderar kemoterapi (låg dos/hög dos med stamcellstransplantation), interferon alfa, donator lymfocytinfusion och tyrosinkinasinhibitor (TKI). TKI är standardbehandling vid KML och TKIs inlkluderar imatinib, dasatinib, nilotinib, bosutinib och ponatinib. Studier har visat att TKI administrerat på friska råttor och möss har en teratogen effekt. Syfte: Syftet med arbetet var att utvärdera risker och fördelar vid behandling av kronisk myeloid leukemi med tyrosinkinasinhibitor i samband med graviditet. Metod: Arbetet är en litteraturstudie baserat på 13 caserapporter därav 4 studier om imatinib, 4 om nilotinib, 4 om dasatinib och 1 studie om imatinib, nilotinib och dasatinib. Bosutinib och ponatinib exkluderades eftersom det fanns inga studier om exponering av dessa läkemedel under graviditet. Resultat: Från studierna om imatinib var det totalt 23 av 163 patienter som fick missfall och 14 av 90 födsel slutade med foster abnormiteter. Totalt hade 49 fall rapporterats om exponering med nilotinib under graviditet därav 46 fall resulterade i normal födsel och 3 spädbarn fick fetala abnormiteter som resulterade till dödlighet. Av de fyra fall som rapporterades om Dasatinib var det ett som slutade med abort efter vecka 17 på grund av fostrets dåliga perinatala prognos. Alla patienter behandlades inte med TKIs under graviditeten. Vissa patienter hade kombinationer av läkemedel. Slutsats: Det finns fortfarande inte bekräftade risker med TKI behandling i samband med graviditet då statistiskt underlag saknas. Fördelen med att behandlas med TKI under graviditet är att risken för återfall och försämrad sjukdomprognos förminskas. Läkaren ska alltid diskutera med patienten om eventuella risker och möjligheter. Behandling för varje patient individualiseras utifrån patienens önskemål. / Background Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a type of leukemia that affects bone marrow and blood cells. In CML, the blood stem cells produce an excessive number of immature granulocytes which leads to a high count of white blood cells in patients. Consequently, the risk of acquiring infections, anemia and hemorrhage, is increased. If not successfully treated the leukemia cells will eventually crowd out platelets and healthy blood cells and ultimately lead to death. Generally, CML occurs in adults aged 55 years or older. The cause of CML is in most cases a somatic mutation that is referred to as the Philadelphia chromosome. There are various treatments for CML, I.e., chemotherapy, interferons-alpha, high-dose chemotherapy combined with a stem cell transplantation, donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI), and tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI). TKI are the standard treatment for CML. There are several types of TKI, namely: Imatinib, nasatinib, nilotinib, bosutinib and ponatinib. Although considered the most effective treatment for CML, there are several animal studies indicating that TKI has a teratogenic effect. Purpose The objective of this study was to evaluate the risks and benefits of TKI treatment in connection with pregnancy. Method  A literature review based on 13 case reports, among them four reports about imatinib, four reports about nilotinib, four reports about dasatinib and one report describing several patients treated with imatinib, nilotinib and dasatinib. Studies about bosutinib and ponatinib are excluded from this study due to the lack of scientific research regarding their impact on pregnant women. Result The studies about Imatinib showed that 23 of 163 patients had miscarriage. Furthermore, 14 of the 90 live births resulted in foster abnormalities. There were totally 49 cases in which Nilotinib was administered to pregnant women. In 46 cases the patients gave birth to healthy children. However, in three cases the fetuses were abnormal and in one of these cases the child was stillborn. Moreover, there were four case studies in which the patients were treated with dasatinib. In one case the treatment lead to an abortion after week 17 due do the fetus poor perinatal prognosis. All patients were not treated with TKIs during pregnancy. Some patients had combinations of drugs.  Conclusion  There are still no confirmed risks with TKI treatment in connection with pregnancy because statistical evidence is missing. The benefit of being treated with TKI during pregnancy is that the risk of relapse and impaired disease prognosis is reduced. The doctor should always discuss with the patient about risks and opportunities. Treatment for each patiens is individualized based on the patients wishes.

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