Markedly additive antitumor activity with the combination of a selective survivin suppressant YM155 and alemtuzumab in adult T-cell leukemia

Adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) is an aggressive malignancy of CD4⁺CD25⁺ lymphocytes caused by human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1. Currently, there is no accepted curative therapy for ATL. In gene expression profiling, the antiapoptotic protein survivin (BIRC5) demonstrated a striking increase in ATL, and its expression was increased in patient ATL cells resistant to the anti-CD52 monoclonal antibody alemtuzumab (Campath-1H). In this study, we investigated the antitumor activity of a small-molecule survivin suppressant YM155 alone and in combination with alemtuzumab in a murine model of human ATL (MET-1). Both YM155 alone and its combination with alemtuzumab demonstrated therapeutic efficacy by lowering serum soluble IL-2Rα (sIL-2Rα) levels (P < .001) and prolonged the survival of tumor-bearing mice (P < .0001). Moreover, the combination of YM155 with alemtuzumab demonstrated markedly additive antitumor activity by significantly lowering serum sIL-2Rα levels and improving the survival of leukemia-bearing mice compared with monotherapy with either YM155 (P < .001) or alemtuzumab (P < .05). More significantly, all mice that received the combination therapy survived and were tumor free >6 months after treatment. Our data support a clinical trial of the combination of YM155 with alemtuzumab in ATL.