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Erkner E, Hentrich T, Schairer R, Fitzel R, Secker-Grob KA, Jeong J, Keppeler H, Korkmaz F, Schulze-Hentrich JM, Lengerke C, Schneidawind D, Schneidawind C. The RORɣ/SREBP2 pathway is a master regulator of cholesterol metabolism and serves as potential therapeutic target in t(4;11) leukemia. Oncogene 2024; 43:281-293. [PMID: 38030791 PMCID: PMC10798886 DOI: 10.1038/s41388-023-02903-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2023] [Revised: 11/10/2023] [Accepted: 11/16/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023]
Abstract
Dysregulated cholesterol homeostasis promotes tumorigenesis and progression. Therefore, metabolic reprogramming constitutes a new hallmark of cancer. However, until today, only few therapeutic approaches exist to target this pathway due to the often-observed negative feedback induced by agents like statins leading to controversially increased cholesterol synthesis upon inhibition. Sterol regulatory element-binding proteins (SREBPs) are key transcription factors regulating the synthesis of cholesterol and fatty acids. Since SREBP2 is difficult to target, we performed pharmacological inhibition of retinoic acid receptor (RAR)-related orphan receptor gamma (RORγ), which acts upstream of SREBP2 and serves as master regulator of the cholesterol metabolism. This resulted in an inactivated cholesterol-related gene program with significant downregulation of cholesterol biosynthesis. Strikingly, these effects were more pronounced than the effects of fatostatin, a direct SREBP2 inhibitor. Upon RORγ inhibition, RNA sequencing showed strongly increased cholesterol efflux genes leading to leukemic cell death and cell cycle changes in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Combinatorial treatment of t(4;11) cells with the RORγ inhibitor showed additive effects with cytarabine and even strong anti-leukemia synergism with atorvastatin by circumventing the statin-induced feedback. Our results suggest a novel therapeutic strategy to inhibit tumor-specific cholesterol metabolism for the treatment of t(4;11) leukemia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Estelle Erkner
- Department of Hematology, Oncology, Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, University Hospital Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany
| | - Thomas Hentrich
- Department of Genetics/Epigenetics, Faculty NT, Saarland University, Saarbruecken, Germany
| | - Rebekka Schairer
- Department of Hematology, Oncology, Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, University Hospital Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany
| | - Rahel Fitzel
- Department of Hematology, Oncology, Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, University Hospital Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany
| | - Kathy-Ann Secker-Grob
- Department of Hematology, Oncology, Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, University Hospital Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany
| | - Johan Jeong
- Process Cell Sciences, Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA
| | - Hildegard Keppeler
- Department of Hematology, Oncology, Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, University Hospital Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany
| | - Fulya Korkmaz
- Department of Hematology, Oncology, Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, University Hospital Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany
| | | | - Claudia Lengerke
- Department of Hematology, Oncology, Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, University Hospital Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany
| | - Dominik Schneidawind
- Department of Hematology, Oncology, Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, University Hospital Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany
- Department of Medical Oncology and Hematology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Corina Schneidawind
- Department of Hematology, Oncology, Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, University Hospital Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
- Department of Medical Oncology and Hematology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
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Yonan A, Jacques C, Fletcher T, Suk-In T, Campbell RB. An Overview of Conventional Drugs and Nano Therapeutic Options for the Treatment and Management of Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Anticancer Agents Med Chem 2022; 22:ACAMC-EPUB-122906. [PMID: 36574508 DOI: 10.2174/1871520622666220426105922] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2021] [Revised: 12/27/2021] [Accepted: 02/03/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a common form of pediatric cancer affecting the lymphoblast, a type of white blood cell found in the bone marrow. In this disease, the normal lymphoblast cells transform into leukemic cells and subsequently enter the bloodstream. Leukemic cells found in patients with ALL have shown differences in cholesterol uptake and utilization. Current treatment consists of chemotherapy, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy, and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). In addition, minimal residual disease (MRD) has become an effective tool in measuring treatment efficacy and the potential for relapse. Chemotherapy resistance remains a significant barrier in the treatment of ALL. Biomarkers such as an upregulated Akt signaling pathway and an overexpressed VLA-4 integrin-protein have been associated with drug resistance. Nanoparticles have been used to favorably alter the pharmacokinetic profile of conventional drug agents. These drug-delivery systems are designed to selectively deliver their drug payloads to desired targets. Therefore, nanoparticles offer advantages such as improved efficacy and reduced toxicity. This review highlights conventional treatment options, distinctive characteristics of pediatric ALL, therapeutic challenges encountered during therapy, and the key role that nanotherapeutics play in the treatment of ALL.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andre Yonan
- MCPHS University Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences 19 Foster Street Worcester, MA 01608, USA
| | - Christopher Jacques
- MCPHS University Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences 19 Foster Street Worcester, MA 01608, USA
| | - Tafaswa Fletcher
- MCPHS University Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences 19 Foster Street Worcester, MA 01608, USA
| | - Thanaphorn Suk-In
- MCPHS University Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences 19 Foster Street Worcester, MA 01608, USA
| | - Robert B Campbell
- MCPHS University Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences 19 Foster Street Worcester, MA 01608, USA
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Abstract
Leukemia is a common hematological malignancy with overall poor prognosis. Novel therapies are needed to improve the outcome of leukemia patients. Cholesterol metabolism reprogramming is a featured alteration in leukemia. Many metabolic-related genes and metabolites are essential to the progress and drug resistance of leukemia. Exploring potential therapeutical targets related to cholesterol homeostasis is a promising area. This review summarized the functions of cholesterol and its derived intermediate metabolites, and also discussed potential agents targeting this metabolic vulnerability in leukemia.
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Li J, Lu L, Zhang YH, Xu Y, Liu M, Feng K, Chen L, Kong X, Huang T, Cai YD. Identification of leukemia stem cell expression signatures through Monte Carlo feature selection strategy and support vector machine. Cancer Gene Ther 2019; 27:56-69. [PMID: 31138902 DOI: 10.1038/s41417-019-0105-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2019] [Revised: 04/28/2019] [Accepted: 05/04/2019] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a type of blood cancer characterized by the rapid growth of immature white blood cells from the bone marrow. Therapy resistance resulting from the persistence of leukemia stem cells (LSCs) are found in numerous patients. Comparative transcriptome studies have been previously conducted to analyze differentially expressed genes between LSC+ and LSC- cells. However, these studies mainly focused on a limited number of genes with the most obvious expression differences between the two cell types. We developed a computational approach incorporating several machine learning algorithms, including Monte Carlo feature selection (MCFS), incremental feature selection (IFS), support vector machine (SVM), Repeated Incremental Pruning to Produce Error Reduction (RIPPER), to identify gene expression features specific to LSCs. One thousand 0ne hudred fifty-nine features (genes) were first identified, which can be used to build the optimal SVM classifier for distinguishing LSC+ and LSC- cells. Among these 1159 genes, the top 17 genes were identified as LSC-specific biomarkers. In addition, six classification rules were produced by RIPPER algorithm. The subsequent literature review on these features/genes and the classification rules and functional enrichment analyses of the 1159 features/genes confirmed the relevance of extracted genes and rules to the characteristics of LSCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- JiaRui Li
- Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200031, P. R. China.,School of Life Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, P. R. China
| | - Lin Lu
- Department of Radiology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, 10032, USA
| | - Yu-Hang Zhang
- Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200031, P. R. China
| | - YaoChen Xu
- Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200031, P. R. China
| | - Min Liu
- College of Information Engineering, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai, 201306, P. R. China
| | - KaiYan Feng
- Department of Computer Science, Guangdong AIB Polytechnic, Guangzhou, 510507, P. R. China
| | - Lei Chen
- College of Information Engineering, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai, 201306, P. R. China.,Shanghai Key Laboratory of PMMP, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, P. R. China
| | - XiangYin Kong
- Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200031, P. R. China.
| | - Tao Huang
- Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200031, P. R. China.
| | - Yu-Dong Cai
- School of Life Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, P. R. China.
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Munir R, Lisec J, Swinnen JV, Zaidi N. Lipid metabolism in cancer cells under metabolic stress. Br J Cancer 2019; 120:1090-1098. [PMID: 31092908 PMCID: PMC6738079 DOI: 10.1038/s41416-019-0451-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 193] [Impact Index Per Article: 38.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2018] [Revised: 03/19/2019] [Accepted: 03/19/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Cancer cells are often exposed to a metabolically challenging environment with scarce availability of oxygen and nutrients. This metabolic stress leads to changes in the balance between the endogenous synthesis and exogenous uptake of fatty acids, which are needed by cells for membrane biogenesis, energy production and protein modification. Alterations in lipid metabolism and, consequently, lipid composition have important therapeutic implications, as they affect the survival, membrane dynamics and therapy response of cancer cells. In this article, we provide an overview of recent insights into the regulation of lipid metabolism in cancer cells under metabolic stress and discuss how this metabolic adaptation helps cancer cells thrive in a harsh tumour microenvironment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rimsha Munir
- Cancer Biology Lab, MMG, University of the Punjab, Lahore, 54590, Pakistan
| | - Jan Lisec
- Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM), Department of Analytical Chemistry, Richard-Willstätter-Straße 11, 12489, Berlin, Germany
| | - Johannes V Swinnen
- Laboratory of Lipid Metabolism and Cancer, Department of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Nousheen Zaidi
- Cancer Biology Lab, MMG, University of the Punjab, Lahore, 54590, Pakistan.
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Ameer F, Munir R, Usman H, Rashid R, Shahjahan M, Hasnain S, Zaidi N. Lipid-load in peripheral blood mononuclear cells: Impact of food-consumption, dietary-macronutrients, extracellular lipid availability and demographic factors. Biochimie 2017; 135:104-110. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biochi.2017.01.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2016] [Accepted: 01/29/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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McCaw L, Shi Y, Wang G, Li YJ, Spaner DE. Low Density Lipoproteins Amplify Cytokine-signaling in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Cells. EBioMedicine 2016; 15:24-35. [PMID: 27932296 PMCID: PMC5233814 DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2016.11.033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2016] [Revised: 11/26/2016] [Accepted: 11/28/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent studies suggest there is a high incidence of elevated low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) patients and a survival benefit from cholesterol-lowering statin drugs. The mechanisms of these observations and the kinds of patients they apply to are unclear. Using an in vitro model of the pseudofollicles where CLL cells originate, LDLs were found to increase plasma membrane cholesterol, signaling molecules such as tyrosine-phosphorylated STAT3, and activated CLL cell numbers. The signaling effects of LDLs were not seen in normal lymphocytes or glycolytic lymphoma cell-lines but were restored by transduction with the nuclear receptor PPARδ, which mediates metabolic activity in CLL cells. Breakdown of LDLs in lysosomes was required for the amplification effect, which correlated with down-regulation of HMGCR expression and long lymphocyte doubling times (LDTs) of 53.6 ± 10.4 months. Cholesterol content of circulating CLL cells correlated directly with blood LDL levels in a subgroup of patients. These observations suggest LDLs may enhance proliferative responses of CLL cells to inflammatory signals. Prospective clinical trials are needed to confirm the therapeutic potential of lowering LDL concentrations in CLL, particularly in patients with indolent disease in the “watch-and-wait” phase of management. Slow-growing CLL cells use lysosomal lipase to break low density lipoproteins (LDLs) into free fatty acids and cholesterol. LdL degradation products increase survival of proliferating CLL cells. LDLs decrease oxidative stress and increase plasma membrane cholesterol. LDLs amplify signaling responses to cytokines but not antigens in proliferating CLL cells. Rapidly growing CLL cells, acute leukemia cells, and normal lymphocytes do not exhibit this dependence on LDLs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsay McCaw
- Biology Platform, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5, Canada; Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Yonghong Shi
- Biology Platform, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5, Canada
| | - Guizhi Wang
- Biology Platform, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5, Canada
| | - You-Jun Li
- Biology Platform, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5, Canada; Department of Human Anatomy, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin 130021, China
| | - David E Spaner
- Biology Platform, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5, Canada; Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A8, Canada; Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 2C4, Canada; Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 2M9, Canada; Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Center, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5, Canada.
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