KPT-330 inhibitor of CRM1 (XPO1)-mediated nuclear export has selective anti-leukaemic activity in preclinical models of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and acute myeloid leukaemia

This study explored the anti-leukaemic efficacy of novel irreversible inhibitors of the major nuclear export receptor, chromosome region maintenance 1 (CRM1, also termed XPO1). We found that these novel CRM1 antagonists, termed SINE (Selective Inhibitors of Nuclear Export), induced rapid Apoptosis at low nanomolar concentrations in a panel of 14 human T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL) cell lines representing different molecular subtypes of the disease. To assess in vivo anti-leukaemia cell activity, we engrafted immunodeficient mice intravenously with the human T-ALL MOLT-4 cells, which harbour activating mutations of NOTCH1 and NRAS as well as loss of function of the CDKN2A, PTEN and TP53 tumour suppressors and express a high level of oncogenic transcription factor TAL1. Importantly, we examined the in vivo anti-leukaemic efficacy of the clinical SINE compound KPT-330 against T-ALL and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) cells. These studies demonstrated striking in vivo activity of KPT-330 against T-ALL and AML cells, with little toxicity to normal murine haematopoietic cells. Taken together, our results show that SINE CRM1 antagonists represent promising 'first-in-class' drugs with a novel mechanism of action and wide therapeutic index, and imply that drugs of this class show promise for the targeted therapy of T-ALL and AML.