Dr. Amengual on Vorinostat and Niacinamide in Lymphoma

Jennifer E. Amengual, MD, assistant professor of medicine and developmental therapeutics, member, Center for Lymphoid Malignancies, Columbia University, discusses the potential of the combination of vorinostat and niacinamide as treatment for patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Vorinostat, a pan-class histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, has little effect in patients with diffuse large b-cell lymphoma on its own, Amengual explains, and has more of an effect in T-cell subtype lymphomas.

Niocinamide is a class III HDAC inhibitor, which is also known as a sirtuin inhibitor. When sirtuins are activated, Amengual says, cell survival is prolonged during times of genotoxic stress. But inhibiting sirtuins in certain diseases, like lymphoma, may prove to be beneficial.

Amengual says it has been observed that combining sirtuin inhibitors with pan-HDAC inhibitors is synergistic and has potential as a treatment for lymphoma.