Abstract
Acute myeloid leukemias driven by MLL fusion proteins are commonly associated with poor prognosis and refractory treatment. Here, we provide evidence that olaparib can potentiate sensitivity of MLL leukemia cells to conventional chemotherapy and DNMT inhibitors offering new potential therapeutic strategies for MLL rearranged leukemias Using the primary mouse leukemia cells and human MLL-AF9 leukemic cell line, we demonstrate that treatment of MLL-AF9 leukemic cells with DNMT inhibitors or chemotherapies in combination with olaparib results in significant reduction in colony formation or cell growth while the single agent treatments had little impacts. Combining olaparib with DNMT inhibitor induce cell cycle block and apoptosis. Furthermore, we observe a significant increase in proportion of cells with >10 γH2AX DNA damage foci and double stranded breaks when treated with DNMT inhibitors or chemotherapy agents in combination with olaparib, thus providing possible mechanistic insights for the synergism.