Combinatorial drug screening identifies synergistic co-targeting of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase and the proteasome in mantle cell lymphoma

We have performed a focused combinatorial screen of targeted drugs combined with ibrutinib in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) cells, and identified the proteasome inhibitor carfilzomib as a targeted agent that could be used with ibrutinib to provide improved clinical responses. Other targeted agents that displayed cytotoxic benefit in our screen also were independent of the B-cell receptor (BCR) pathway, whereas agents within the BCR pathway did not provide benefit.