Fast apoptosis and erythroid differentiation induced by imatinib mesylate in JURL-MK1 cells

Inhibition of mitochondrial folate metabolism drives differentiation through mTORC1 mediated purine sensing

Supporting cell proliferation through nucleotide biosynthesis is an essential requirement for cancer cells. Hence, inhibition of folate-mediated one carbon (1C) metabolism, which is required for nucleotide synthesis, has been successfully exploited in anti-cancer therapy. Here, we reveal that mitochondrial folate metabolism is upregulated in patient-derived leukaemic stem cells (LSCs). We demonstrate that inhibition of mitochondrial 1C metabolism through impairment of de novo purine synthesis has a cytostatic effect on chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) cells. Consequently, changes in purine nucleotide levels lead to activation of AMPK signalling and suppression of mTORC1 activity. Notably, suppression of mitochondrial 1C metabolism increases expression of erythroid differentiation markers. Moreover, we find that increased differentiation occurs independently of AMPK signalling and can be reversed through reconstitution of purine levels and reactivation of mTORC1. Of clinical relevance, we identify that combination of 1C metabolism inhibition with imatinib, a frontline treatment for CML patients, decreases the number of therapy-resistant CML LSCs in a patient-derived xenograft model. Our results highlight a role for folate metabolism and purine sensing in stem cell fate decisions and leukaemogenesis.

Spred2 modulates the erythroid differentiation induced by imatinib in chronic myeloid leukemia cells

Differentiation induction is currently considered as an alternative strategy for treating chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Our previous work has demonstrated that Sprouty-related EVH1 domainprotein2 (Spred2) was involved in imatinib mediated cytotoxicity in CML cells. However, its roles in growth and lineage differentiation of CML cells remain unknown. In this study, we found that CML CD34⁺ cells expressed lower level of Spred2 compared with normal hematopoietic progenitor cells, and adenovirus mediated restoration of Spred2 promoted the erythroid differentiation of CML cells. Imatinib could induce Spred2 expression and enhance erythroid differentiation in K562 cells. However, the imatinib induced erythroid differentiation could be blocked by Spred2 silence using lentiviral vector PLKO.1-shSpred2. Spred2 interference activated phosphorylated-ERK (p-ERK) and inhibited erythroid differentiation, while ERK inhibitor, PD98059, could restore the erythroid differentiation, suggesting Spred2 regulated the erythroid differentiation partly through ERK signaling. Furthermore, Spred2 interference partly restored p-ERK level leading to inhibition of erythroid differentiation in imatinib treated K562 cells. In conclusion, Spred2 was involved in erythroid differentiation of CML cells and participated in imatinib induced erythroid differentiation partly through ERK signaling.

Changes in cell adhesivity and cytoskeleton-related proteins during imatinib-induced apoptosis of leukemic JURL-MK1 cells

The fusion protein Bcr-Abl, which is the molecular cause of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) interacts in multiple points with signaling pathways regulating the cellular adhesivity and cytoskeleton architecture and dynamics. We explored the effects of imatinib mesylate, an inhibitor of Bcr-Abl protein used in front-line CML therapy, on the adhesivity of JURL-MK1 cells to fibronectin and searched for underlying changes in the cell proteome. As imatinib induces apoptosis of JURL-MK1 cells, we used three different caspase inhibitors to discriminate between direct consequences of Bcr-Abl inhibition and secondary changes related to the apoptosis. Imatinib treatment caused a transient increase in JURL-MK1 cell adhesivity to fibronectin, possibly due to the switch off of Bcr-Abl activity. Subsequently, we observed a number of changes including a decrease in cell adhesivity, F-actin decomposition, reduction of integrin β1, CD44, and paxillin expression levels and a marked increase in cofilin phophorylation at Ser3. These events were generally related to the proceeding apoptosis but they differed in their sensitivity to the individual caspase inhibitors.

Isoform-specific cleavage of 14-3-3 proteins in apoptotic JURL-MK1 cells

The proteins of 14-3-3 family are substantially involved in the regulation of many biological processes including the apoptosis. We studied the changes in the expression of five 14-3-3 isoforms (beta, gamma, epsilon, tau, and zeta) during the apoptosis of JURL-MK1 and K562 cells. The expression level of all these proteins markedly decreased in relation with the apoptosis progression and all isoforms underwent truncation, which probably corresponds to the removal of several C-terminal amino acids. The observed 14-3-3 modifications were partially blocked by caspase-3 inhibition. In addition to caspases, a non-caspase protease is likely to contribute to 14-3-3's cleavage in an isoform-specific manner. While 14-3-3 gamma seems to be cleaved mainly by caspase-3, the alternative mechanism is essentially involved in the case of 14-3-3 tau, and a combined effect was observed for the isoforms epsilon, beta, and zeta. We suggest that the processing of 14-3-3 proteins could form an integral part of the programmed cell death or at least of some apoptotic pathways.

Reduction of Bcr-Abl function leads to erythroid differentiation of K562 cells via downregulation of ERK

The chimeric bcr-abl gene encodes a constitutively active tyrosine kinase that leads to abnormal transduction of growth and survival signals leading to chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). According to our previous observations, in vitro differentiation of several erythroid cell lines is accompanied by the downregulation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK)1/2 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activities. In this work we investigated whether ERKs have a decisive role in either the erythroid differentiation process or apoptosis of bcr-abl+ K562 cells by means of direct (MEK1/2 inhibitor UO126) and indirect (reduced Bcr-Abl function) inhibition of their activities. We found that both Gleevec and UO126 induced hemoglobin expression. Gleevec treatment reduced the phosphorylation of Bcr-Abl, ERK and STAT-5 for up to 24 h, decreased Bcl-XL levels, and induced caspase-3-dependent apoptosis. In contrast, UO126 treatment resulted in only a transient decrease of ERK activity and did not induce cell death. For studying the effect of reduced Bcr-Abl function on erythroid differentiation at the level of the bcr-abl transcript, we applied the siRNA approach. Stable degradation of bcr-abl mRNA was achieved by using a retroviral vector with enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) reporter. Despite a high (>90%) transduction efficiency we detected only a transient decrease in Bcr-Abl protein and in phosphorylated ERK1/2 levels. This transient change in Bcr-Abl signaling was sufficient to induce hemoglobin expression without significant cell death. These results suggest that by transiently reducing Bcr-Abl function it is possible to overcome the differentiation blockade without evoking apoptosis in CML cells and that reduced ERK activity may have a crucial role in this process.

Labeling of apoptotic JURL-MK1 cells by fluorescent caspase-3 inhibitor FAM-DEVD-fmk occurs mainly at site(s) different from caspase-3 active site

BACKGROUND

Fluorochrome-labeled inhibitors of caspases (FLICA) have been designed as an alternative tool for the detection of caspase activation in whole cells. They should label the active site of the corresponding caspase through a covalent attachment to the reactive cysteine residue.

METHODS

One of the FLICAs, FAM-DEVD-fmk, was used to monitor apoptosis progression in leukemic JURL-MK1 cells by means of flow cytometry. The effects of unlabeled caspase inhibitors z-DEVD-fmk and z-VAD-fmk on FLICA staining were analyzed to evaluate the contribution of caspase-bound FLICA to the fluorescent signal. Covalent binding of inhibitors to caspase-3 subunit was revealed by Western blotting.

RESULTS

Although the unlabeled inhibitors irreversibly bind to caspase-3, completely inhibit its activity, and prevent FLICA binding to caspase-3 even at concentrations lower than 5 muM, they have no effect on FLICA staining of apoptotic cells.

CONCLUSIONS

Fluorescent signal of FLICA is characteristic for apoptotic cells but originates mainly from yet unspecified site(s) that differ from the caspase active site. This finding puts in doubt the specificity of staining by various FLICAs with regard to individual caspases and shows the need for an extreme care in the interpretation of data obtained using these labels.

FOXO3a induces differentiation of Bcr-Abl-transformed cells through transcriptional down-regulation of Id1

Leukemic transformation often requires activation of protein kinase B (PKB/c-Akt) and is characterized by increased proliferation, decreased apoptosis, and a differentiation block. PKB phosphorylates and inactivates members of the FOXO subfamily of Forkhead transcription factors. It has been suggested that hyperactivation of PKB maintains the leukemic phenotype through actively repressing FOXO-mediated regulation of specific genes. We have found expression of the transcriptional repressor Id1 (inhibitor of DNA binding 1) to be abrogated by FOXO3a activation. Inhibition of PKB activation or growth factor deprivation also resulted in strong down-regulation of Id1 promoter activity, Id1 mRNA, and protein expression. Id1 is highly expressed in Bcr-Abl-transformed K562 cells, correlating with high PKB activation and FOXO3a phosphorylation. Inhibition of Bcr-Abl by the chemical inhibitor STI571 resulted in activation of FOXO3a and down-regulation of Id1 expression. By performing chromatin immunoprecipitation assays and promoter-mutation analysis, we demonstrate that FOXO3a acts as a transcriptional repressor by directly binding to the Id1 promoter. STI571 treatment, or expression of constitutively active FOXO3a, resulted in erythroid differentiation of K562 cells, which was inhibited by ectopic expression of Id1. Taken together our data strongly suggest that high expression of Id1, through PKB-mediated inhibition of FOXO3a, is critical for maintenance of the leukemic phenotype.

Apoptosis and erythroid differentiation triggered by Bcr-Abl inhibitors in CML cell lines are fully distinguishable processes that exhibit different sensitivity to caspase inhibition

Imatinib targets the Bcr-Abl oncogene that causes chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) in humans. Recently, we demonstrated that besides triggering apoptosis in K562 cells, imatinib also mediated their erythroid differentiation. Although both events appear to proceed concomitantly, it is not known at present whether or not imatinib-induced apoptosis and differentiation are interdependent processes. Hence, we investigated the requirements for Bcr-Abl inhibitor-mediated apoptosis and erythroid differentiation in several established and engineered CML cell lines. Imatinib triggered apoptosis and erythroid differentiation of different CML cell lines, but only apoptosis exhibited sensitivity to ZVAD-fmk inhibition. Conversely, the p38 mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase inhibitor, SB202190, significantly slowed down erythroid differentiation without affecting caspase activation. Furthermore, imatinib and PD166326, another Bcr-Abl inhibitory molecule, triggered erythroid differentiation of K562 cell clones, nevertheless resistant to Bcr-Abl inhibitor-induced apoptosis. Finally, short hairpin RNA inhibitor (shRNAi) silencing of caspase 3 efficiently inhibited caspase activity but had no effect on erythroid differentiation, whereas silencing of Bcr-Abl mimicked imatinib or PD166326 treatment, leading to increased apoptosis and erythroid differentiation of K562 cells. Taken together, our findings not only demonstrate that Bcr-Abl inhibitor-mediated apoptosis and differentiation are fully distinguishable events, but also that caspases are dispensable for erythroid differentiation of established CML cell lines.

Differential tyrosine phosphorylation of leukemic cells during apoptosis as a result of treatment with imatinib mesylate

Bcr-Abl fusion tyrosine kinase contributes to leukemic transformation. Imatinib mesylate inhibits Bcr-Abl tyrosine kinase, resulting in a blockage of tyrosine phosphorylation in its downstream pathways. We analyzed the alteration of tyrosine phosphorylation, on BCR/ABL+ chronic myelogenous leukemia cells, after treatment with imatinib mesylate. Data were collected using a two-dimensional gel electrophoresis followed by Western blot and mass spectrometry. The inhibition of Bcr-Abl tyrosine kinase by 2.5 microM imatinib mesylate caused both cell cycle arrest in the G0/G1 phase and increased the portion of apoptotic cells. As a result, the population of leukemic cells decreased by 30% and 70% compared to controls at 24 and 72 h, respectively. Furthermore, treatment with imatinib mesylate altered tyrosine phosphorylation of 24 protein spots as the incubation time proceeded from 0 to 24 and 72 h. Ten of the 24 protein spots are visible at all three times. Four are detectable at both the 0 and 24 h points in time. Eight were detectable only at time 0.