Fibronectin promotes the phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate-induced macrophage differentiation in myeloid leukemia cells

KIF20A, highly expressed in immature hematopoietic cells, supports the growth of HL60 cell line

A microtubule-associated motor protein, kinesin-like family member 20A (KIF20A; also called MKlp2) is required for cytokinesis and contributes to intracellular vesicular trafficking. KIF20A plays a critical role in the development of several cancers, but its role in blood cells and hematological malignancies have not been studied. In the present study, we focused on the role of KIF20A in hematopoietic cells and possible involvement in myeloid neoplasms. We found that human leukemia cell lines and normal bone marrow CD34-positive cells stimulated by growth factors, but not mature peripheral blood cells, exhibit high KIF20A expression. We further found that HL60 cells, which originally express a large amount of KIF20A, showed decreased KIF20A expression in parallel with both neutrophil-like and macrophage-like differentiation-induction. KIF20A-knockdown using a lentivirus shRNA transfection system led to partial cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase and frequent appearance of multinucleated cells. Treatment with a KIF20A-selective inhibitor, paprotrain enhanced the multinuclearity of KIF20A-knockdown cell clones and suppressed growth. The present study contributes to our understanding of the role of KIF20A in blood cells and leukemia cells in particular.

The more basic isoform of eEF1A relates to tumour cell phenotype and is modulated by hyper-proliferative/differentiating stimuli in normal lymphocytes and CCRF-CEM T-lymphoblasts

The elongation factor 1A proteins (eEF1A1/A2) are known to play a role in tumours. We previously found that a more basic isoform of eEF1A (MBI-eEF1A) is present in the cytoskeletal/nuclear-enriched extracts of CCRF-CEM T-lymphoblasts but not in those of normal lymphocytes. To obtain deeper knowledge about MBI-eEF1A biology, we investigate from which of the eEF1A proteins, eEF1A1 or eEF1A2, MBI-eEF1A originates and the possibility that its appearance can be modulated by the differentiated or proliferative cell status. CCRF-CEM T-lymphoblasts and normal lymphocytes were cultured with or without differentiation/pro-proliferative stimuli (Phorbol 12-Myristate 13-Acetate (PMA) alone or the combination of phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) with PMA, respectively), and the presence of MBI-eEF1A evaluated together with that of the eEF1A1/A2 mRNAs. Our data indicate that the MBI-eEF1A may derive from eEF1A1 as eEF1A2 is not expressed in CCRF-CEM and normal lymphocytes. Moreover, MBI-eEF1A is inducible in normal lymphocytes upon hyper-proliferative stimuli application; in CCRF-CEM, its presence can be abrogated by PMA-induced differentiation. Finally, MBI-eEF1A may have a functional role in hyper-proliferating/tumour cells as its disappearance reduces the growth of CCRF-CEM and that of PHA/PMA-stimulated lymphocytes. The presented data suggest that MBI-eEF1A may be related to oncogenic cell phenotype, rising the possibility to use MBI-eEF1A as target for novel therapeutic strategies.

Human macrophages primed with angiogenic factors show dynamic plasticity, irrespective of extracellular matrix components

Macrophages are important in inflammation as well as in tissue repair processes. They can be activated by various stimuli and classified into two major groups: M1 (classically activated) or M2 (alternatively activated). Inflammation, angiogenesis and matrix remodeling play a major role in tissue repair. Here, we investigate the combined influence of a pro-angiogenic microenvironment and specific extracellular matrix (ECM) components or tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS) on the dynamics of human macrophage polarization. We established that human angiogenically primed macrophages cultured on different ECM components exhibit an M2-like polarization. These M2-like macrophages polarized to M1 and M2 macrophages with classical (LPS and IFNγ) stimuli and alternative (IL-4 and IL-13) stimuli respectively. Moreover, these M1 and M2 (primary) polarized macrophages rapidly underwent a secondary (re)polarization to M2 and M1 with conditioned media from M2 and M1 primary polarized macrophages respectively. In these initial priming and later (re)polarization processes the soluble factors had a dominant and orchestrating role, while the type of ECM (collagen I, fibronectin, versus tissue culture polystyrene) did not play a crucial role on the polarization of macrophages.

Mimicking the haematopoietic niche microenvironment provides a novel strategy for expansion of haematopoietic and megakaryocyte-progenitor cells from cord blood

Severe neutropenia and protracted thrombocytopenia remain serious clinical problems following cord blood transplantation (CBT) due to the paucity of stem and progenitor cells in the grafts. Administration of ex-vivo expanded megakaryocyte progenitor cells may facilitate platelet production. We propose a novel strategy to expand these rare cells ex-vivo, from a small portion of the cord blood (CB) unit, using fibronectin (FN), a major component of hematopoietic niches, combined with cytokines, including thrombopoietin and the hematopoietic stress-associated acetylcholinesterase readthrough peptide (ARP). Application of multiple gates and high definition flow cytometry enabled clear resolution of expanded hematopoietic stem/precursor cells (HSPC) and megakaryocyte progenitors (Mk-p) and their early subsets while eliminating positively stained non-relevant cells. FN increased viability, expansion of all CD34(+) HSPC populations and Mk-p. The combination of FN + thrombopoietin + ARP maintained and expanded very early myeloid and thrombopoietic precursors, increased the proliferation of megakaryocyte, granulocyte-macrophage and multilineage colony-forming progenitors and supported Mk maturation as measured by ploidy and glycoprotein IIb/IIIa expression by quantiative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. This approach, which involves expanding HSPC and Mk precursors from a small portion of the CB unit, without sacrificing the coveted stem cells, may lead to improved cell therapy modalities to facilitate earlier myelopoiesis and platelet production post-CBT.

Transfection of myeloid leukaemia cell lines is distinctively regulated by fibronectin substratum

Gene transfer into haematopoietic cells is a challenging approach. The extracellular matrix component fibronectin has been known to modulate the cell cycle dynamics, viability and differentiation of leukaemia cells. Thus, our aim was to investigate the influence of fibronectin substratum on the liposomal transfection of myeloid leukaemia cell lines. Liposomal transfection was performed with K562 and HL-60 as representative lines of transfection-competent and -incompetent myeloid leukaemia cells, respectively. Flow cytometry analyses were performed to determine transfection efficiency monitored by green fluorescent protein (GFP) expression and to assess cell viability and cell cycle status. Quantitation of GFP gene expression and DNA uptake was assayed by real time PCR. The current data showed that the adhesion to fibronectin deteriorated the transfection of K562 cells. In contrary, it enhanced the delivery of plasmid DNA into HL-60 cells. Correspondingly, the adhesion to fibronectin influenced the transfection efficiency mainly by modulating the intracellular presence of plasmid DNA. The cell cycle and viability which is regulated by fibronectin had a minor impact on the success of gene delivery. This phenomenon may be considered as an important factor which may modulate the potential gene transfer approaches for myeloid leukaemia.