Pre-BCR signaling in precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia regulates PI3K/AKT, FOXO1 and MYC, and can be targeted by SYK inhibition

Precursor-B-cell receptor (pre-BCR) signaling and spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK) recently were introduced as therapeutic targets for patients with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), but the importance of this pathway in B-ALL subsets and mechanism of downstream signaling have not fully been elucidated. Here, we provide new detailed insight into the mechanism of pre-BCR signaling in B-ALL. We compared the effects of pharmacological and genetic disruption of pre-BCR signaling in vitro and in mouse models for B-ALL, demonstrating exquisite dependency of pre-BCR+ B-ALL, but not other B-ALL subsets, on this signaling pathway. We demonstrate that SYK, PI3K/AKT, FOXO1 and MYC are important downstream mediators of pre-BCR signaling in B-ALL. Furthermore, we define a characteristic immune phenotype and gene expression signature of pre-BCR+ ALL to distinguish them from other B-ALL subsets. These data provide comprehensive new insight into pre-BCR signaling in B-ALL and corroborate pre-BCR signaling and SYK as promising new therapeutic targets in pre-BCR+ B-ALL.