The small inhibitor WM-1119 effectively targets KAT6A-rearranged AML, but not KMT2A-rearranged AML, despite shared KAT6 genetic dependency

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The epigenetic factors KAT6A (MOZ/MYST3) and KMT2A (MLL/MLL1) interact in normal hematopoiesis to regulate progenitors' self-renewal. Both proteins are recurrently translocated in AML, leading to impairment of critical differentiation pathways in these malignant cells. We evaluated the potential of different KAT6A therapeutic targeting strategies to alter the growth of KAT6A and KMT2A rearranged AMLs. METHODS: We investigated the action and potential mechanisms of the first-in-class KAT6A inhibitor, WM-1119 in KAT6A and KMT2A rearranged (KAT6Ar and KMT2Ar) AML using cellular (flow cytometry, colony assays, cell growth) and molecular (shRNA knock-down, CRISPR knock-out, bulk and single-cell RNA-seq, ChIP-seq) assays. We also used two novel genetic murine KAT6A models combined with the most common KMT2Ar AML, KMT2A