Zorzoli A, Di Carlo E, Cocco C, Ognio E, Ribatti D, Ferretti E, Dufour C, Locatelli F, Montagna D, Airoldi I. Interleukin-27 inhibits the growth of pediatric acute myeloid leukemia in NOD/SCID/Il2rg-/- mice.
Clin Cancer Res 2012;
18:1630-40. [PMID:
22383738 DOI:
10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-11-2432]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) accounts for more than half of fatal cases in all pediatric leukemia patients; this observation highlights the need of more effective therapies. Thus, we investigated whether interleukin (IL)-27, an immunomodulatory cytokine, functions as an antitumor agent against pediatric AML cells.
EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
Expression of WSX-1 and gp130 on AML cells from 16 pediatric patients was studied by flow cytometry. Modulation of leukemia cell proliferation or apoptosis upon IL-27 treatment in vitro was tested by bromodeoxyuridine/propidium iodide (PI) and Ki67, or Annexin V/PI staining and flow cytometric analysis. The angiogenic potential of AML cells treated or not with IL-27 was studied by chorioallantoic membrane assay and PCR array. In vivo studies were carried out using nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient (NOD/SCID)/Il2rg(-/-) mice injected intravenously with five pediatric AML cell samples. Leukemic cells engrafted in PBS and IL-27-treated animals were studied by immunohistochemical/morphologic analysis and by PCR array for expression angiogenic/dissemination-related genes.
RESULTS
We provided the first demonstration that (i) AML cells injected into NOD/SCID/Il2rg(-/-) mice gave rise to leukemia dissemination that was severely hampered by IL-27, (ii) compared with controls, leukemia cells harvested from IL-27-treated mice showed significant reduction of their angiogenic and spreading related genes, and (iii) similarly to what was observed in vivo, IL-27 reduced in vitro AML cell proliferation and modulated the expression of different genes involved in the angiogenic/spreading process.
CONCLUSION
These results provide an experimental rationale for the development of future clinical trials aimed at evaluating the toxicity and efficacy of IL-27.
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