Preclinical Testing Of a Novel Axl-Kinase Inhibitor In Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

The receptor tyrosine kinase Axl belongs to the TAM (Tyro-3, Axl and Mer) family and is involved in the progression of several human malignancies including chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), where it is has been found to be overexpressed in comparison to normal B-cells. An increasing body of evidence suggests that Axl acts as an oncogene which increases the survival, proliferation, metastatic potential and chemotherapy resistance of tumor cells. Hence, it has been recently identified as a potential therapeutic target in a wide range of tumor entities with deregulated Axl expression including prostate cancer, glioma, lung cancer and CLL. Here, we investigated two different Axl inhibitors for their ability to inhibit the migratory capacity and survival of leukemic cells in preclinical CLL models.