The Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Channel on VJHemOnc is an independent medical education platform, supported with funding from AstraZeneca (Diamond), AbbVie (Platinum), BeOne Medicines (Silver) and Lilly (Silver). Supporters have no influence on the production of content. The levels of sponsorship listed are reflective of the amount of funding given.
iwCLL 2025 | The potential of NIK inhibition in CLL and Richter’s transformation
In this video, Christopher Pepper, PhD, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Brighton, UK, discusses the potential of using NIK inhibition to target the non-canonical NF-κB for treating chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and Richter’s transformation (RT). Prof. Pepper notes that small molecule inhibitors against NIK have shown promising results in inhibiting the growth of CLL cells in the lymphoid niche and also exhibit effectiveness against Richter’s transformed cells. This interview took place at the biennial International Workshop on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (iwCLL) 2025 in Krakow, Poland.
These works are owned by Magdalen Medical Publishing (MMP) and are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All rights are reserved.
Transcript
You’ve heard already that I’m a bit obsessed with NF-kappa-B. And NF-kappa-B has two different pathways. The first pathway, which RelA/p65 governs, is called the canonical pathway. And the other pathway is called the non-canonical pathway, and the master regulator of that is NIK, NF-kappa-B inducing kinase.
So we’ve tried to develop two strategies for targeting NF-kappa-B, one that goes after the canonical pathway through RelA and another that targets NIK and the non-canonical pathway...
You’ve heard already that I’m a bit obsessed with NF-kappa-B. And NF-kappa-B has two different pathways. The first pathway, which RelA/p65 governs, is called the canonical pathway. And the other pathway is called the non-canonical pathway, and the master regulator of that is NIK, NF-kappa-B inducing kinase.
So we’ve tried to develop two strategies for targeting NF-kappa-B, one that goes after the canonical pathway through RelA and another that targets NIK and the non-canonical pathway. What Iona, one of my PhD students, clinician scientists has done is to use small molecule inhibitors against NIK to show that it works really well when we inhibit NIK, particularly in the lymphoid niche. So CLL grows only in specialized structures called lymph nodes, and so if we can switch off that growth signal in the lymph nodes, we think that we’ll have a really great way of treating CLL long term. Really excitingly, she’s also shown that it works against Richter’s transformed cells as well. So, this is a high-grade lymphoma transformation that some CLL patients undergo and NIK inhibition looks like it’s going to be really, really effective against that type of disease too.
This transcript is AI-generated. While we strive for accuracy, please verify this copy with the video.
Read more...
