The FLT3 receptor tyrosine kinase plays an integral role in hematopoiesis, and one third of AML diagnoses exhibit gain-of-function mutations in FLT3, with the juxtamembrane domain internal tandem duplication (ITD) and the kinase domain D835Y variants observed most frequently.
Retroviral expression of FLT3-N676K in myeloid 32D cells induced AML in syngeneic C3H/HeJ mice (n = 11/13, median latency 58 days), with a transforming activity similar to FLT3-internal tandem duplication (ITD) (n = 8/8), FLT3-TKD D835Y (n = 8/9), and FLT3-ITD-N676K (n = 9/9) mutations.
Our FLT3-Aurora kinase inhibitor, CCT137690, successfully inhibited growth of FLT3-ITD-D835Y cells in vitro and in vivo, suggesting that dual FLT3-Aurora inhibition may overcome selective FLT3 inhibitor resistance, in part due to inhibition of Aurora kinase, and may benefit patients with FLT3-mutated AML.