Lymphoma is a collective term representing over 100 different types of the disease. Disease subtyping allows clinicians to determine a more precise diagnosis for each individual patient and plan optimal treatment accordingly.
A small percentage of lymphomas in the United States are classified as Hodgkin lymphomas, with the remaining majority falling under the non-Hodgkin category. Further, approximately 90 percent of non-Hodgkin lymphomas are B-cell malignancies, versus 10 percent T-cell.
Here’s how B and T cells act like branches of the military to protect the body from disease – and what happens when these immune cells are unable to perform their jobs adequately.
For the origin of this analogy, check out this episode of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Bloodline podcast, featuring our own Dr. John Leonard.
Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) are small molecules that alter the function of histones, or proteins that bind to DNA and help to determine chromosome shape and gene activity. In cancer treatment, HDACi are traditionally considered epigenetic drugs because of their capacity to modify gene expression to halt tumor cell division, but new research from the Cerchietti Research Laboratory at Weill Cornell Medicine poses rationale for studying the inhibitors’ biological effects through a different lens – their impact on cell metabolism.
Benet Pera, Ph.D., along with Weill Cornell colleagues, as well as researchers from the Helmholtz Institute of Computational Biology in Germany and the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research in Canada, conducted the study to improve the efficacy of HDACi in people with B-cell lymphoma, which is relatively low compared to that in T-cell lymphoma. Several HDACi, including vorinostat and romidepsin, have been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treatment of certain T-cell lymphoma subtypes.
Contrary to their namesake, histone deacetylase inhibitors are able to affect a long list of non-histone proteins, among them metabolic enzymes. These agents can be more appropriately referred to as lysine deacetylase inhibitors (KDACi). Due to the activity of KDACi in proteins involved in metabolic pathways, Pera et al. investigated the effects of the KDACi panobinostat in the cell metabolism of relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients enrolled in a phase II trial. Metabolic profiling of the patients’ plasma before and after KDACi-treatment demonstrated that panobinostat prompts DLBCL cells to rely on a certain metabolic pathway, the choline pathway, for survival. The scientists found that in the lab, treating the cancer cells with a choline pathway inhibitor in combination with panobinostat produced superior anti-lymphoma effects in vitro and in animal models.
“We are studying these so-called ‘epigenetic’ drugs from a different angle, hoping that metabolomics might hold the key to improving their clinical efficacy,” says Dr. Pera.
The research data recently published in the open-access journal EBioMedicine help to substantiate the team’s innovative re-application of epigenetic reagents, demonstrating the value and promise of the metabolic mechanisms by which KDACi/HDACi can improve current therapeutic options for people with B-cell lymphoma. The results also highlight the need to explore the unknown biological effects of this class of drugs before they can be successfully implemented in a clinical setting.
Ribavirin, a drug that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat hepatitis C, as well as some viral respiratory infections and viral hemorrhagic fevers, has shown promising activity against some types of lymphoma. There is a growing movement to repurpose older drugs that might have mechanisms of action that could benefit cancer patients.
Dr. Leandro Cerchietti
Based on preclinical work performed in the laboratory of Dr. Leandro Cerchietti, the Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Lymphoma Program is planning a clinical trial examining the oral antiviral drug ribavirin in patients with two non-Hodgkin lymphoma subtypes, slow growing follicular lymphoma and mantle cell lymphoma. This clinical trial will be led by principal investigator Dr. Sarah Rutherford.
Previously, physicians and scientists in the Weill Cornell Medicine Lymphoma Program have demonstrated that ribavirin may be able to inhibit lymphoma cell growth. Dr. Cerchietti’s laboratory research has shown that the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E (eiF4E) is blocked by ribavirin in B-cell lymphoma cell lines, as well as in patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models, which more closely resemble the way cancer behaves in the human body. Blocking eiF4E ultimately leads to decreases in key proteins (MYC, BCL2, and BCL6) which are crucial for lymphoma cells’ survival.
Dr. Sarah Rutherford
Additionally, Dr. Rutherford conducted a retrospective review of patients with lymphoma who underwent stem cell transplants at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medicine. Patients who were treated with ribavirin for viral infections just before or after their stem cell transplant had better lymphoma-related outcomes compared to what was expected based on their disease risk profiles.
This clinical trial, run by Dr. Rutherford and Dr. Cerchietti, will enroll patients with follicular lymphoma and mantle cell lymphoma, and they will receive 3-6 months of oral ribavirin. Using a blood test, Dr. Rutherford and Dr. Cerchietti will monitor for the presence of a marker of lymphoma in the blood to confirm that ribavirin has the intended anti-lymphoma effect.
“We are excited about opening this clinical trial and aim to conduct additional trials in the future that combine ribavirin with other drugs,” said Dr. Rutherford. “Our goal is to ultimately develop a well-tolerated, targeted oral regimen to control lymphomas.”
This preclinical research is supported by a Translational Research Program from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) awarded to Dr. Cerchietti.
“We are studying these so-called ‘epigenetic’ drugs from a different angle, hoping that metabolomics might hold the key to improving their clinical efficacy,” says Dr. Pera.
New Developments in Lymphoma 