The pan-histone deacetylase inhibitor CR2408 disrupts cell cycle progression, diminishes proliferation and causes apoptosis in multiple myeloma cells

Summary In view of the fact that histone deacetylases (HDACs) are promising targets for myeloma therapy, we investigated the effects of the HDAC inhibitor CR2408 on multiple myeloma (MM) cells in vitro. CR2408 is a direct pan‐HDAC inhibitor and inhibits all known 11 HDACs with a 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 12 nmol/l (HDAC 6) to 520 nmol/l (HDAC 8). Correspondingly, CR2408 induces hyperacetylation of histone H4, inhibits cell growth and strongly induces apoptosis (IC50 = 0·1–0·5 μmol/l) in MM cell lines and primary MM cells. CR2408 leads to fragmentation of cells and induces an accumulation in the subG1 phase accompanied with moderately decreased levels of cyclin D1 and cdk4 and strongly decreased levels of cdc25a, pRb and p53. Interruption of the cell cycle is reflected by inhibition of cell proliferation and is accompanied by decreased phosphorylation of 4E‐BP1 and p70S6k. Treatment with CR2408 results in increased protein levels of Bim and pJNK and downregulation of Bad and Bcl‐xL and activation of Caspases 3, 8 and 9. Furthermore, as HDAC inhibitors have shown synergism with other drugs, these effects were investigated and synergism was observed for combinations of CR2408 with doxorubicin and bortezomib. In conclusion, we have identified potent anti‐myeloma activity for this novel HDAC inhibitor that gives further insights into the biological sequelae of HDAC inhibition in MM.