Constitutively activated AKT
kinase is a common feature of T-cell
acute lymphoblastic leukemia (
T-ALL). Here, we report that the novel AKT inhibitor (2S)-1-(1H-indol-3-yl)-3-[5-(3-methyl-2H-indazol-5-yl)pyridin-3-yl]oxypropan2-
amine (
A443654) leads to rapid cell death of
T-ALL lines and patient samples. Treatment of CEM, Jurkat, and MOLT-4 cells with nanomolar doses of the inhibitor led to AKT phosphorylation accompanied by dephosphorylation and activation of the downstream target,
glycogen synthase kinase-3beta. Effects were time- and dose-dependent, resulting in apoptotic cell death. Treatment of Jurkat cells with
A443654 resulted in activation of
caspase-2, -3, -6, -8, and -9. Apoptotic cell death was mostly dependent on
caspase-2 activation, as demonstrated by preincubation with a selective pharmacological inhibitor. It is remarkable that
A443654 was highly effective against the
drug-resistant cell line CEM-VBL100, which expresses 170-kDa
P-glycoprotein. Moreover,
A443654 synergized with the
DNA-damaging agent
etoposide in both
drug-sensitive and
drug-resistant cell lines when coadministered [combination index (CI) = 0.39] or when pretreated with
etoposide followed by
A443654 (CI = 0.689). The efficacy of
A443654 was confirmed using blasts from six patients with
T-ALL, all of whom displayed low levels of
phosphatase and
tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN) and constitutive phosphorylation of Akt on Ser473. At 1 microM, the inhibitor was able to induce apoptotic cell death of
T-ALL blast cells, as indicated by flow cytometric analysis of samples immunostained for active (cleaved)
caspase-3. Because activated AKT is seen in a large percentage of patients with
T-ALL,
A443654, either alone or in combination with existing drugs, may be a useful
therapy for primary and
drug-resistant
T-ALL.