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Acute lymphoblastic leukemia

SHMT inhibition is effective and synergizes with methotrexate in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Leukemia volume 35, pages 377–388 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Folate metabolism enables cell growth by providing one-carbon (1C) units for nucleotide biosynthesis. The 1C units are carried by tetrahydrofolate, whose production by the enzyme dihydrofolate reductase is targeted by the important anticancer drug methotrexate. 1C units come largely from serine catabolism by the enzyme serine hydroxymethyltransferase (SHMT), whose mitochondrial isoform is strongly upregulated in cancer. Here we report the SHMT inhibitor SHIN2 and demonstrate its in vivo target engagement with 13C-serine tracing. As methotrexate is standard treatment for T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), we explored the utility of SHIN2 in this disease. SHIN2 increases survival in NOTCH1-driven mouse primary T-ALL in vivo. Low dose methotrexate sensitizes Molt4 human T-ALL cells to SHIN2, and cells rendered methotrexate resistant in vitro show enhanced sensitivity to SHIN2. Finally, SHIN2 and methotrexate synergize in mouse primary T-ALL and in a human patient-derived xenograft in vivo, increasing survival. Thus, SHMT inhibition offers a complementary strategy in the treatment of T-ALL.

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Fig. 1: SHIN2 inhibits SHMT in vitro and in vivo.
Fig. 2: SHIN2 blocks growth of the human T-ALL cell line Molt4 via SHMT inhibition.
Fig. 3: SHIN2 has an antileukemic effect in T-ALL in vivo.
Fig. 4: SHIN2 and methotrexate synergize in Molt4 cells.
Fig. 5: Synergistic in vivo antileukemic effect of SHIN2 and methotrexate in mouse primary leukemia.
Fig. 6: Synergistic in vivo antileukemic effect of SHIN2 and methotrexate in a human patient-derived T-ALL xenograft.
Fig. 7: Methotrexate resistance sensitizes Molt4 cells to SHIN2.

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Acknowledgements

We thank members of the Rabinowitz and Herranz laboratories for helpful discussions. We also thank Adolfo A. Ferrando (Columbia University) for sharing with us the human normal thymus samples used in this study. Work in the laboratory of JDR is supported by US National Institutes of Health (1DP1DK113643 and R01CA163591 to JDR and R00CA215307 to GSD) and the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey (P30CA072720). JCGC is supported by funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 751423). Work in the laboratory of DH is supported by the US National Institutes of Health (R00CA197869 and R01CA236936), a Research Scholar Grant from the American Cancer Society (RSG-19-161-01-TBE), the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, the Leukemia Research Foundation, the Children’s Leukemia Research Association, the Gabrielle’s Angel Foundation for Cancer Research, and the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey (P30CA072720). VSD is funded by the New Jersey Commission on Cancer Research (DCHS19PPC008).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Juan C. García-Cañaveras

    Present address: Biomarkers and Precision Medicine Unit and Analytical Unit, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Fundación Hospital La Fe, 46026, València, Spain

  2. Gregory S. Ducker

    Present address: Department of Biochemistry, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA

  3. These authors contributed equally: Juan C. García-Cañaveras, Olga Lancho

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lewis Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA

    Juan C. García-Cañaveras, Gregory S. Ducker, Jonathan M. Ghergurovich, Xincheng Xu & Joshua D. Rabinowitz

  2. Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA

    Juan C. García-Cañaveras, Gregory S. Ducker, Xincheng Xu, Hahn Kim & Joshua D. Rabinowitz

  3. Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA

    Olga Lancho, Victoria da Silva-Diz & Daniel Herranz

  4. Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA

    Jonathan M. Ghergurovich

  5. Department of Surgery, Oncology and Gastroenterology, University of Padova, 35124, Padua, Italy

    Sonia Minuzzo

  6. Immunology and Molecular Oncology Unit, Veneto Institute of Oncology IOV-IRCCS, 35128, Padua, Italy

    Stefano Indraccolo

  7. Princeton University Small Molecule Screening Center, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA

    Hahn Kim

  8. Department of Pharmacology, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA

    Daniel Herranz

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Contributions

JDR, DH, HK, JCGC, OL, and GSD conceived the study. JCGC, OL, GSD, JMG, XX, and VSD conducted the experiments. SM and SI generated the human T-ALL xenograft. HK and GSD designed SHIN2. HK designed and oversaw the chemical synthesis strategy. JDR, DH, JCGC, and OL wrote the paper.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Daniel Herranz or Joshua D. Rabinowitz.

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Conflict of interest

GSD, JMG, HK, and JDR are inventors on a Princeton University patent covering serine hydroxymethyltransferase inhibitors and their use in cancer. JDR is a co-founder of Raze Therapeutics and advisor and stock owner in Kadmon, Agios, L.E.A.F., and Rafael Pharmaceuticals. No competing interests were disclosed by the other authors.

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García-Cañaveras, J.C., Lancho, O., Ducker, G.S. et al. SHMT inhibition is effective and synergizes with methotrexate in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Leukemia 35, 377–388 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-020-0845-6

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