Parbendazole As a Promising Drug for Inducing Differentiation of Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cells with Various Subtypes

Overview

Journal Commun Biol

Specialty Biology

Date 2024 Jan 24

PMID 38267545

Authors

Hidemasa Matsuo

Aina Inagami

Yuri Ito

Nana Ito

Shinju Iyoda

Yutarou Harata

Moe Higashitani

Kota Shoji

Miu Tanaka

Mina Noura

Takashi Mikami

Itaru Kato

Junko Takita

Tatsutoshi Nakahata

Souichi Adachi

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a malignancy characterized by differentiation arrest of hematopoietic precursor cells. Differentiation therapy is effective for patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia; however, only a few effective differentiation therapies have been established for patients with other AML subtypes. In this study, seven benzimidazole anthelmintics were examined to determine the effects of differentiation on AML cells. The expression of monocyte markers (CD11b and CD14) was elevated after treatment with most benzimidazole anthelmintics. Among these drugs, parbendazole (PBZ) induced AML cell differentiation at low concentration. PBZ induced the monocyte marker expression, KLF4/DPYSL2A gene expression, and apoptosis for 21 AML cell lines with various subtypes and a primary AML sample. Finally, an in vivo analysis using an AML patient-derived xenograft mouse model showed a significant decrease in the chimerism level and prolonged survival in PBZ-treated mice. These findings could lead to a more effective differentiation therapy for AML.

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