Background:

Obatoclax mesylate, also known as GX15-070, is a hydrophobic small molecule that potently inhibits BCL-2 family by binding to the BH3-binding site of BCL-2 and other related BCL-2 family members (including BCL-XL, MCL-1, A1, and BCL-B).? As a pan-BCL-2 inhibitor being investigated for the treatment of refractory malignancies, obatoclax mesylate directly induce apoptosis in cultured acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells as well as primary patient samples and exhibits antitumor activity in mouse xengografts of solid tumor and myeloma cell lines. Study results have shown that obatoclax mesylate inhibited clonogenic growth of primary AML samples (IC50 < nmol/L) and dissociated Bak and Bim from MCL-1 in cultured AML cells.

Reference

[1].Aaron D. Schimmer, Susan O’Brien, Hagop Kantarjian, Joseph Brandwein, Bruce D. Cheson, Mark D. Minden, Karen Yee, Farhad Ravandi, Francis Giles, Andre Schuh, Vikas Gupta, Michael Andreeff, Charles Koller, Hong Chang, Suzanne Kamel-Reid, Mark Berger, Jean Viallet, and Gautam Borthakur. A phase I study of the Pan BCL-2 family inhibitor obatoclax mesylate in patients with advanced hematologic malignancies. Clin Cancer Res 2008; 14:8295-8301