Revumenib for patients with acute leukemia: a new tool for differentiation therapy

Haematologica. 2024 Nov 1;109(11):3488-3495. doi: 10.3324/haematol.2022.282621.

Abstract

Treatment of acute leukemia is gradually moving away from a "one-size-fits-all" approach, as scientific and clinical advances expand the arsenal of available targeted therapies. One of the recent additions is the group of menin inhibitors; oral, selective, small molecules that disrupt the interaction between the chromatin adapter menin, and an epigenetic regulator, the lysine methyltransferase 2A (KMT2A) complex. Two susceptible leukemia subtypes have been identified: (i) acute myeloid leukemia with a mutation in nucleophosmin 1 (NPM1), and (ii) any acute leukemia, myeloid or lymphoid, with a translocation resulting in the rearrangement of KMT2A. These leukemias share a distinct genetic expression, maintained by the KMT2A-menin interaction. Together they account for approximately 40% of patients with acute myeloid leukemia and 10% of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. This spotlight review follows the journey of revumenib, as a representative of menin inhibitors, from bench to bedside. It focuses on the pathophysiology of leukemias sensitive to menin inhibition, delineation of how this understanding led to targeted drug development, and data from clinical trials. The important discovery of resistance mechanisms is also explored, as well as future directions in the use of menin inhibitors for treating leukemia.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology
  • Antineoplastic Agents / therapeutic use
  • Benzamides
  • Cell Differentiation
  • Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase / genetics
  • Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute* / drug therapy
  • Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute* / genetics
  • Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute* / metabolism
  • Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute* / pathology
  • Myeloid-Lymphoid Leukemia Protein / genetics
  • Myeloid-Lymphoid Leukemia Protein / metabolism
  • Nucleophosmin*
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins* / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins* / genetics
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins* / metabolism
  • Spiro Compounds

Substances

  • Nucleophosmin
  • NPM1 protein, human
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins
  • Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase
  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • MEN1 protein, human
  • Myeloid-Lymphoid Leukemia Protein
  • revumenib
  • Benzamides
  • Spiro Compounds