Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is an incurable B-cell malignancy with overall poor prognosis particularly for patients that progress on targeted therapies. Novel more durable treatment options are needed for patients with MCL. Protein Arginine Methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) is overexpressed in MCL and plays an important oncogenic role in this disease via epigenetic and post-translational modification of cell cycle regulators, DNA repair genes, components of pro-survival pathways, and RNA splicing regulators. The mechanism of targeting PRMT5 in MCL remains incompletely characterized. Here we report on the anti-tumor activity of PRMT5 inhibition in MCL using integrated transcriptomics of in vitro and in vivo models of MCL. Treatment with a selective small-molecule inhibitor of PRMT5, PRT-382, led to growth arrest and cell death and provided a therapeutic benefit in MCL patient derived xenografts. Transcriptional reprograming upon PRMT5 inhibition led to restored regulatory activity of the cell cycle (p-RB/E2F), apoptotic cell death (p53-dependent/p53-independent), and activation of negative regulators of BCR-PI3K/AKT signaling (PHLDA3, PTPROt, and PIK3IP1). We propose pharmacologic inhibition of PRMT5 for patients with relapsed/refractory MCL and identify MTAP/CDKN2A deletion and WT TP53 as biomarkers that predict a favorable response. Selective targeting of PRMT5 has significant activity in preclinical models of MCL and warrants further investigation in clinical trials.
