Effects of mTOR and calcineurin inhibitors combined therapy in Epstein–Barr virus positive and negative Burkitt lymphoma cells

•Eve inhibits mTORC1, cell proliferation, and mitochondrial activity in BL cells.•CNI activates mTORC1 and mildly inhibit proliferation and mitochondrial activity.•Eve + CsA has synergistic inhibitory effect on EBV − but not EBV + BL cells.•Tac attenuates the effect of Eve in BL cells.•Treatment with Eve + Tac mimics Tac treatment alone in BL cells.

Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder is a severe complication in solid organ transplant recipients, which is highly associated with Epstein–Barr virus infection in pediatric patients and occasionally presents as Burkitt- or Burkitt-like lymphoma. The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway has been described as a possible antitumor target whose inhibition may influence lymphoma development and proliferation after pediatric transplantation. We treated Epstein–Barr virus positive (Raji and Daudi) and negative (Ramos) human Burkitt lymphoma derived cells with mTOR inhibitor everolimus alone and in combination with clinically relevant immunosuppressive calcineurin inhibitors (tacrolimus or cyclosporin A). Cell proliferation, toxicity, and mitochondrial metabolic activity were analyzed. The effect on mTOR Complex 1 downstream targets p70 S6 kinase, eukaryotic initiation factor 4G, and S6 ribosomal protein activation was also investigated. We observed that treatment with everolimus alone significantly decreased Burkitt lymphoma cell proliferation and mitochondrial metabolic activity. Everolimus in combination with cyclosporin A had a stronger suppressive effect in Epstein–Barr virus negative but not in Epstein–Barr virus positive cells. In contrast, tacrolimus completely abolished the everolimus-mediated suppressive effects. Moreover, we showed a significant decrease in activation of mTOR Complex 1 downstream targets after treatment with everolimus that was attenuated when combined with tacrolimus, but not with cyclosporin A. For the first time we showed the competitive effect between everolimus and tacrolimus when used as combination therapy on Burkitt lymphoma derived cells. Thus, according to our in vitro data, the combination of calcineurin inhibitor cyclosporin A with everolimus is preferred to the combination of tacrolimus and everolimus.