Self-Renewal of Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia Cells Is Limited by the Hedgehog Pathway Inhibitors Cyclopamine and IPI-926 PLOS ONE Lin, T. L., Wang, Q. H., Brown, P., Peacock, C., Merchant, A. A., Brennan, S., Jones, E., McGovern, K., Watkins, D. N., Sakamoto, K. M., Matsui, W. 2010; 5 (12)

Abstract

Conserved embryonic signaling pathways such as Hedgehog (Hh), Wingless and Notch have been implicated in the pathogenesis of several malignancies. Recent data suggests that Hh signaling plays a role in normal B-cell development, and we hypothesized that Hh signaling may be important in precursor B-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia (B-ALL). We found that the expression of Hh pathway components was common in human B-ALL cell lines and clinical samples. Moreover, pathway activity could be modulated by Hh ligand or several pathway inhibitors including cyclopamine and the novel SMOOTHENED (SMO) inhibitor IPI-926. The inhibition of pathway activity primarily impacted highly clonogenic B-ALL cells expressing aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) by limiting their self-renewal potential both in vitro and in vivo. These data demonstrate that Hh pathway activation is common in B-ALL and represents a novel therapeutic target regulating self-renewal and persistence of the malignant clone.

View details for DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0015262

View details for Web of Science ID 000285792500027

View details for PubMedID 21203400