WEE1 inhibition induces glutamine addiction in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Haematologica. 2021 Jul 1;106(7):1816-1827. doi: 10.3324/haematol.2019.231126.

Abstract

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemias (T-ALLs) are aggressive and heterogeneous hematologic tumors resulting from the malignant transformation of T-cell progenitors. The major challenges in the treatments of T-ALL are dose-limiting toxicities of chemotherapeutics and drug resistance. Despite important progress in deciphering the genomic landscape of T-ALL, translation of these findings into effective targeted therapies remains largely unsuccessful. New targeted agents with significant antileukemic efficacy and less toxicity are in urgent need. We herein report that the expression of WEE1, a nuclear tyrosine kinase involved in cell cycle G2-M checkpoint signaling, is significantly elevated in T-ALL. Mechanistically, oncogenic MYC directly binds to the WEE1 promoter and activates its transcription. T-ALL cells particularly rely on the elevated WEE1 for cell viability. Pharmacological inhibition of WEE1 elicits global metabolic reprogramming which results in a marked suppression of aerobic glycolysis in T-ALL cells, leading to an increased dependency on glutaminolysis for cell survival. As such, dual targeting of WEE1 and glutaminase (GLS1) induces synergistic lethality in multiple T-ALL cell lines and shows great efficacy in T-ALL patient-derived xenografts. These findings provide mechanistic insights in the regulation of WEE1 kinase in T-ALL and suggest an additional vulnerability during WEE1 inhibitor treatments. In aggregate, we highlight a promising combination strategy of dual inhibition of cell cycle kinase and metabolic enzymes for T-ALL therapeutics.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Apoptosis
  • Cell Cycle Proteins / genetics
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Glutamine*
  • Humans
  • Nuclear Proteins / genetics
  • Precursor T-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma* / drug therapy
  • Precursor T-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma* / genetics
  • Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / genetics

Substances

  • Cell Cycle Proteins
  • Nuclear Proteins
  • Glutamine
  • Protein-Tyrosine Kinases
  • WEE1 protein, human

Grants and funding

Funding: This research was supported by grants from National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFA0505600 to GQ), National Natural Science Foundation of China (81770177, 81970152 to HL, 81803003 to MY), National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (81725013 to GQ), Hubei Provincial Natural Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (2017CFA072 to HL), Hubei Provincial Natural Science Fund for Creative Research Groups (2018CFA018 to GQ), and Innovative Research Grants from Wuhan University (2042019kf0338 to HL and 2042017kf0282 to GQ).