mTOR regulates cell survival after etoposide treatment in primary AML cells

Acute myeloid leukemia cells have constitutive activation of phosphatidylinositol 3(PI3) kinase and require PI3 kinase activation for survival; however, the function of the PI3 kinase pathway in the survival of leukemic cells is poorly defined. We have studied the role of one PI3 kinase substrate, mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin), in primary leukemic cells. In initial experiments, we have defined a novel growth medium that improves survival of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) blasts in long-term suspension culture and the survival of leukemic stem cells in short-term cultures. Inhibition of mTOR using rapamycin leads to a modest decrease in cell survival after 2 days of incubation with more significant decrease in survival after 7 days of culture. However, when rapamycin is added to etoposide in 2-day cultures, there is a dramatic increase in the cytotoxicity of etoposide against AML blasts. Furthermore, etoposide consistently decreased the engraftment of AML cells in nonobese diabetic/ severe combined immunodeficient (NOD/SCID) animals, and this effect was enhanced by coincubation with rapamycin, demonstrating that mTOR regulates survival of AML stem cells after etoposide treatment. These results suggest that rapamycin in combination with etoposide-based chemotherapy may be efficacious in the treatment of AML.