PI3K Targeting in Non-solid Cancer

Despite the therapeutic progress, relapse remains a major problem in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Most leukemia cells that survive chemotherapy are found in the bone marrow (BM), thus resistance to chemotherapy and other treatments may be partially attributed to pro-survival signaling to leukemic cells mediated by leukemia cell-microenvironment interactions. Adhesion of leukemia cells to BM stromal cells may lead to cell adhesion-mediated drug resistance (CAM-DR) mediating intracellular signaling changes that support survival of leukemia cells. In ALL and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), adhesion-mediated activation of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway has been shown to be critical in CAM-DR. PI3K targeting inhibitors have been approved for CLL and have been evaluated preclinically in ALL. However, PI3K inhibition has yet to be approved for clinical use in ALL. Here, we review the role of PI3K signaling for normal hematopoietic and leukemia cells and summarize preclinical inhibitors of PI3K in ALL.