NUP214-ABL1-mediated cell proliferation in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia is dependent on the LCK kinase and various interacting proteins

The NUP214-ABL1 fusion protein is a constitutively active protein tyrosine kinase that is found in 6% of patients with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and that promotes proliferation and survival of T-lymphoblasts. Although NUP214-ABL1 is sensitive to ABL1 kinase inhibitors, development of resistance to these compounds is a major clinical problem, underlining the need for additional drug targets in the sparsely studied NUP214-ABL1 signaling network. In this work, we identify and validate the SRC family kinase LCK as a protein whose activity is absolutely required for the proliferation and survival of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells that depend on NUP214-ABL1 activity. These findings underscore the potential of SRC kinase inhibitors and of the dual ABL1/SRC kinase inhibitors dasatinib and bosutinib for the treatment of NUP214-ABL1-positive T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. In addition, we used mass spectrometry to identify protein interaction partners of NUP214-ABL1. Our results strongly support that the signaling network of NUP214-ABL1 is distinct from that previously reported for BCR-ABL1. Moreover, we found that three NUP214-ABL1-interacting proteins, MAD2L1, NUP155, and SMC4, are strictly required for the proliferation and survival of NUP214-ABL1-positive T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells. In conclusion, this work identifies LCK, MAD2L1, NUP155 and SMC4 as four new potential drug targets in NUP214-ABL1-positive T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.