| First Author | Mérino D | Year | 2012 |
| Journal | Blood | Volume | 119 |
| Issue | 24 | Pages | 5807-16 |
| PubMed ID | 22538851 | Mgi Jnum | J:188645 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5441390 | Doi | 10.1182/blood-2011-12-400929 |
| Citation | Merino D, et al. (2012) Bcl-2, Bcl-x(L), and Bcl-w are not equivalent targets of ABT-737 and navitoclax (ABT-263) in lymphoid and leukemic cells. Blood 119(24):5807-16 |
| abstractText | The BH3-mimetic ABT-737 and an orally bioavailable compound of the same class, navitoclax (ABT-263), have shown promising antitumor efficacy in preclinical and early clinical studies. Although both drugs avidly bind Bcl-2, Bcl-x(L), and Bcl-w in vitro, we find that Bcl-2 is the critical target in vivo, suggesting that patients with tumors overexpressing Bcl-2 will probably benefit. In human non-Hodgkin lymphomas, high expression of Bcl-2 but not Bcl-x(L) predicted sensitivity to ABT-263. Moreover, we show that increasing Bcl-2 sensitized normal and transformed lymphoid cells to ABT-737 by elevating proapoptotic Bim. In striking contrast, increasing Bcl-x(L) or Bcl-w conferred robust resistance to ABT-737, despite also increasing Bim. Cell-based protein redistribution assays unexpectedly revealed that ABT-737 disrupts Bcl-2/Bim complexes more readily than Bcl-x(L)/Bim or Bcl-w/Bim complexes. These results have profound implications for how BH3-mimetics induce apoptosis and how the use of these compounds can be optimized for treating lymphoid malignancies. |
