The Novel Deacetylase Inhibitor AR-42 Demonstrates Pre-Clinical Activity in B-Cell Malignancies In Vitro and In Vivo

BACKGROUND: While deacetylase (DAC) inhibitors show promise for the treatment of B-cell malignancies, those introduced to date are weak inhibitors of class I and II DACs or potent inhibitors of class I DAC only, and have shown suboptimal activity or unacceptable toxicities. We therefore investigated the novel DAC inhibitor AR-42 to determine its efficacy in B-cell malignancies. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In mantle cell lymphoma (JeKo-1), Burkitt's lymphoma (Raji), and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (697) cell lines, the 48-hr IC(50) (50% growth inhibitory concentration) of AR-42 is 0.61 µM or less. In chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patient cells, the 48-hr LC(50) (concentration lethal to 50%) of AR-42 is 0.76 µM. AR-42 produces dose- and time-dependent acetylation both of histones and tubulin, and induces caspase-dependent apoptosis that is not reduced in the presence of stromal cells. AR-42 also sensitizes CLL cells to TNF-Related Apoptosis Inducing Ligand (TRAIL), potentially through reduction of c-FLIP. AR-42 significantly reduced leukocyte counts and/or prolonged survival in three separate mouse models of B-cell malignancy without evidence of toxicity. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Together, these data demonstrate that AR-42 has in vitro and in vivo efficacy at tolerable doses. These results strongly support upcoming phase I testing of AR-42 in B-cell malignancies.