BH3-only proteins are dispensable for apoptosis induced by pharmacological inhibition of both MCL-1 and BCL-XL

• Published in: Cell death and differentiation Vol. 26; no. 6; pp. 1037 - 1047
• Main Authors: Greaves, Georgia, Milani, Mateus, Butterworth, Michael, Carter, Rachel J., Byrne, Dominic P., Eyers, Patrick A., Luo, Xu, Cohen, Gerald M., Varadarajan, Shankar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.06.2019; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/45; 631/67; 82/1; 96/106; 96/109; 96/2; 96/31; 96/63; 96/95; Apoptosis; Bax protein; Bcl-2 protein; Bcl-x protein; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cancer; Cell Biology; Cell Cycle Analysis; Chemoresistance; Hematology; Life Sciences; Mcl-1 protein; Proteins; Solid tumors; Stem Cells; Tumor cell lines; Tumors
• ISSN: 1350-9047; 1476-5403
• DOI: 10.1038/s41418-018-0183-7

The impressive selectivity and efficacy of BH3 mimetics for treating cancer has largely been limited to BCL-2 dependent hematological malignancies. Most solid tumors depend on other anti-apoptotic proteins, including MCL-1, for survival. The recent description of S63845 as the first specific and potent MCL-1 inhibitor represents an important therapeutic advance, since MCL-1 is not targeted by the currently available BH3 mimetics, Navitoclax or Venetoclax, and is commonly associated with chemoresistance. In this study, we confirm a high binding affinity and selectivity of S63845 to induce apoptosis in MCL-1-dependent cancer cell lines. Furthermore, S63845 synergizes with other BH3 mimetics to induce apoptosis in cell lines derived from both hematological and solid tumors. Although the anti-apoptotic BCL-2 family members in these cell lines interact with a spectrum of pro-apoptotic BH3-only proteins to regulate apoptosis, these interactions alone do not explain the relative sensitivities of these cell lines to BH3 mimetic-induced apoptosis. These findings necessitated further investigation into the requirement of BH3-only proteins in BH3 mimetic-mediated apoptosis. Concurrent inhibition of BCL-X L and MCL-1 by BH3 mimetics in colorectal HCT116 cells induced apoptosis in a BAX- but not BAK-dependent manner. Remarkably this apoptosis was independent of all known BH3-only proteins. Although BH3-only proteins were required for apoptosis induced as a result of BCL-X L inhibition, this requirement was overcome when both BCL-X L and MCL-1 were inhibited, implicating distinct mechanisms by which different anti-apoptotic BCL-2 family members may regulate apoptosis in cancer.