Is it possible to write (A OR B) IN(X, Y, ..., W)?
No, there isn't a simple solution, unless the values are already in respective (normal or temporary) tables. If they are,

A IN(X, Y, ..., W) OR B IN(X, Y, ..., W)


is easy to rewrite. It's equivalent to:

EXISTS ( SELECT * 
         FROM List1 JOIN List2 ON List1.item = List2.item ) 


If the A and B are not supplied values/parameters but columns/expressions from the tables involved in the query, we can use a mixed approach, having only the X, Y, ..., W values in a (temp) table:

A IN (SELECT item FROM List2) 
OR 
B IN (SELECT item FROM List2) 

-- alternative 1
EXISTS (SELECT * FROM List2 WHERE List2.item = A)
OR
EXISTS (SELECT * FROM List2 WHERE List2.item = B) 

-- alternative 2
EXISTS (SELECT * FROM List2 WHERE List2.item IN (A,B)) 


If the values are not already in tables, then a way to write this would be using VALUES clause but this has not been implmented in mySQL:

EXISTS ( SELECT * 
         FROM (VALUES (A), (B)) AS List1 (item)
           JOIN 
              (VALUES (X), (Y), ... (W)) AS List2 (item) 
           ON List1.item = List2.item ) 


In MySQL, you'll have to rewrite the VALUES with rather long subqueries, using UNION

EXISTS ( SELECT * 
         FROM (SELECT A AS item UNION ALL
               SELECT B
              ) AS List1 
           JOIN 
              (SELECT X AS item UNION ALL
               SELECT Y         UNION ALL
               ... 
               SELECT W
              ) AS List2 
           ON List1.item = List2.item )