Central role of the mTORC1 pathway in glucocorticoid activity against B-ALL cells

Glucocorticoids (GCs), such as dexamethasone and prednisone, are crucial components of B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) therapies. However, the molecular basis of GC-induced cell death remains elusive. Here, we show that GC suppresses mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) signaling and that, conversely, oncogenic activation of mTORC1 confers resistance to GCs. Our genome-wide CRISPR/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) dropout screens reveal that depletion of components of either the gap activity toward Rags 1 or tuberous sclerosis complexes, both negative regulators of mTORC1 signaling, significantly attenuates B-ALL cell sensitivity to dexamethasone. Dexamethasone primarily induces B-ALL cell death by downregulating mTORC1 activity, thus promoting autophagy and impairing protein synthesis. Dexamethasone treatment failed to suppress mTORC1 activity in B-ALL cells expressing mutant GC receptors lacking DNA-binding capacity, suggesting that dexamethasone transcriptionally represses mTORC1 activity. RNA-sequencing analysis identified multiple dexamethasone target genes that negatively regulate mTORC1 activity. Our findings suggest that GC sensitivity is significantly influenced by oncogenic stimuli and/or growth factors that activate the PI3K-AKT-mTORC1 pathway. This is consistent with the frequent GC resistance found in Ph and Ph-like ALLs.