Abstract
Background: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous disease highly resistant to chemotherapeutic agents. Leukemia stem cells (LSCs) can enter a dormant state and avoid apoptosis in the protective niche of the bone marrow (BM) microenvironment. Moreover, bone marrow stromal cells protect leukemia cells by promoting pro-survival signaling pathways and drug resistance. Therefore, attenuating interactions between leukemia cells and BM cells may have a positive therapeutic effect. Objectives: In this work, we hypothesized that sondages may inhibit the adhesion of leukemia cells to the bone marrow by inhibiting the Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway. The Hedgehog pathway is a key therapeutic target in AML due to its role in leukemic cell growth and survival. Methods: We investigated the effects of sonidegib on the adhesion of individual OCI-AML3 cells to a bone marrow stromal spheroid derived from the HS-5 cell line. For this purpose, we precisely determined the minimum cell-to-cell adhesion time using optical tweezers under normoxic (21% of O(2)) and hypoxic (1% of O(2)) conditions. Results: Our results demonstrated that sonidegib significantly increased the minimum cell-to-cell adhesion time necessary for leukemic cells to establish adhesive bonds with bone marrow stromal cells, thereby indicating a reduction in their adhesive properties. Additionally, we showed that sonidegib is particularly effective at hypoxic oxygen concentrations. Conclusions: The results obtained in this study suggest that sonidegib, through its modulation of the Hedgehog signaling pathway, holds promise as a potential therapeutic approach to target leukemic cell adhesion within the bone marrow microenvironment.