Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor-stimulated proliferation of myeloid cells: mode of cell cycle control by a range of inhibitors

Endogenous Expression of G-CSF in Rat Dorsal Root Ganglion Neurons after Nerve Injury

Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) has been reported to modulate pain function following nerve injury. However, the expression of endogenous G-CSF in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) and the response to nerve injury remain unclear. In the present study, we demonstrated that G-CSF and G-CSFR are mainly expressed in both small- and medium-diameter DRG neurons in rats and are responsible for transmitting pain responses. G-CSF and G-CSFR were co-expressed in certain nociceptive DRG neurons. In addition, G-CSF was expressed in satellite glial cells around large-diameter DRG neurons. After sciatic nerve injury, the number of G-CSF-positive DRG neurons was increased in both the ipsilateral and contralateral lesion sites in rats. However, G-CSF expression in satellite glial cells was not affected by nerve injury. To clarify the role of G-CSF in pain, exogenous G-CSF was administered to a rat model of neuropathic pain induced by partial sciatic nerve transaction (PST). Our results indicate that treatment with G-CSF did not attenuate but exacerbated neuropathic pain. In summary, G-CSF may directly activate sensory neurons and contribute to nociceptive signaling.

Disruption of the inhibitor of apoptosis protein survivin sensitizes Bcr-abl-positive cells to STI571-induced apoptosis

The Bcr-abl oncogene induces hematopoietic cell transformation and protects cells from apoptosis; however, the mechanisms whereby Bcr-abl blocks apoptosis are poorly defined. We examined whether the inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP) family, in particular survivin, are regulated by Bcr-abl. Overexpression of Bcr-abl in Mo7e or BaF3 hematopoietic cells elevated survivin mRNA and protein concomitant with a 4-fold increase in survivin promoter activity. The region of the survivin promoter responding to Bcr-abl was narrowed down to a 116 bp fragment between nucleotides -1,194 and -1,078. The IAP family member IAP-like protein-2 was also up-regulated by Bcr-abl. Disruption of Bcr-abl in Bcr-abl-transduced BaF3 cells by small interfering RNA resulted in 3- to 4-fold reduction in survivin protein confirming the link between Bcr-abl and survivin. Survivin disruption in Bcr-abl-transduced Mo7e cells, or in K562 cells that endogenously express Bcr-abl, by transfection with dominant-negative or antisense survivin constructs promoted apoptosis induced by the Bcr-abl tyrosine kinase inhibitor STI571, which was accompanied by caspase-dependent cleavage of Bcr-abl, mitochondrial membrane potential disruption, and enhanced mitochondrial cytochrome c release. Although ectopic survivin protected K562 cells from apoptosis induced by STI571, it did not protect cells from apoptosis induced either by tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) or the combination of TRAIL plus Hemin. Our results identify a new signal pathway downstream of Bcr-abl, in addition to the Bcl-2 family involved in the antiapoptotic effects of Bcr-abl, and suggest that anti-survivin therapy may have utility in patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia.

Prostaglandin E2 mediates growth arrest in NFS-60 cells by down-regulating interleukin-6 receptor expression

Interleukin-6 (IL-6), a potent myeloid mitogen, and the immunosuppressive prostanoid prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) are elevated following thermal injury and sepsis. We have previously demonstrated that bone marrow myeloid commitment shifts toward monocytopoiesis and away from granulocytopoiesis during thermal injury and sepsis and that PGE2 plays a central role in this alteration. Here we investigated whether PGE2 can modulate IL-6-stimulated growth in the promyelocytic cell line, NFS-60, by down-regulating IL-6 receptor (IL-6r) expression. Exposure of NFS-60 cells to PGE2 suppressed IL-6-stimulated proliferation as well as IL-6r expression. Receptor down-regulation is functionally significant since IL-6-induced signal transduction through activators of transcription (STAT)-3 is also decreased. Down-regulation of IL-6r correlated with the ability of PGE2 to arrest cells in the G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle. PGE2 appears to signal through EP2 receptors. Butaprost (EP2 agonist) but not sulprostone (EP3 agonist) inhibited IL-6-stimulated proliferation. In addition, an EP2 antagonist (AH6809) alleviated the anti-proliferative effects of PGE2. NFS-60 cells express predominantly EP2 and EP4 receptors. While PGE2 down-regulated both the IL-6r protein and mRNA expression, it had no influence on EP2 or EP4 mRNA expression. The present study demonstrates that PGE2 is a potent down-regulator of IL-6r expression and thus may provide a mechanistic explanation for the granulocytopenia seen in thermal injury and sepsis.

STAT3-mediated differentiation and survival and of myeloid cells in response to granulocyte colony-stimulating factor: role for the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27(Kip1)

The signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) proteins have been implicated in cytokine-regulated proliferation, differentiation and cell survival. Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), a regulator of granulocytic differentiation, induces a robust and sustained activation of STAT3. Here, we show that introduction of dominant negative (DN) forms of STAT3 interferes with G-CSF-induced differentiation and survival in murine 32D cells. G-CSF induces expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase (cdk) inhibitor p27(KiP1) (but not p21(CiP1)), which is completely blocked by DN-STAT3. The ability of tyrosine-to-phenylalanine substitution mutants of the G-CSF receptor to activate STAT3 strongly correlated with their capacity to induce p27 expression and their ability to mediate differentiation and survival, suggesting a causal relationship between STAT3 activation, p27 expression and the observed cellular responses. We identified a putative STAT binding site in the promoter region of p27 that showed both STAT3 binding in electrophoretic mobility shift assays and functional activity in luciferase reporter assays. Finally, we studied G-CSF-induced responses in primary bone marrow and spleen cells of p27-deficient mice. Compared with wild-type, myeloid progenitors from p27-deficient mice showed significantly increased proliferation and reduced differentiation in response to G-CSF. These findings indicate that STAT3 controls myeloid differentiation, at least partly, via upregulation of p27(Kip1).

Cyclin D3 accumulation and activity integrate and rank the comitogenic pathways of thyrotropin and insulin in thyrocytes in primary culture

The proliferation of most normal cells depends on the synergistic interaction of several growth factors and hormones, but the cell cycle basis for this combined requirement remains largely uncharacterized. We have addressed the question of the requirement for insulin/IGF-1 also observed in many cell culture systems in the physiologically relevant system of primary cultures of dog thyroid epithelial cells stimulated by TSH, which exerts its mitogenic activity only via cAMP. The induction of cyclin A and cdc2, the phosphorylation of cdk2, the nuclear translocation of cdk4 and the assembly of cyclin D3-cdk4 complexes required the synergy of TSH and insulin. Cyclin D3 (the most abundant cyclin D) was necessary for the proliferation stimulated by TSH in the presence of insulin as shown by microinjection of a neutralizing antibody. Cyclin D3 accumulation and activity were differentially regulated by insulin and TSH, which points out this cyclin as an integrator that ranks these comitogenic pathways as supportive and activatory, respectively. Paradoxically TSH alone strongly repressed cyclin D3 accumulation. This inhibition was overridden by insulin, which markedly stimulated cyclin D3 mRNA and protein accumulation, but failed to assemble cyclin D3-cdk4 complexes in the absence of TSH. TSH unmasked the DCS-22 epitope of cyclin D3 and assembled cyclin D3-cdk4 in the presence of insulin. These data demonstrate that cyclin D synthesis and cyclin D-cdk assembly can be dissociated and complementarily regulated by different agents and signalling pathways.

Pentoxifylline potentiates nitric oxide production and growth suppression in interferon-gamma-treated L929 fibroblasts

In this study the effects of the phosphodiesterase inhibitor pentoxifylline (PTX) on nitric oxide (NO) production and proliferation of murine fibrosarcoma cell line L929 were investigated. We showed that both IFN-gamma (200 U/ml)-induced NO production and inhibition of [3H]thymidine uptake by L929 cells were potentiated in a synergistic fashion in the presence of PTX (200 micrograms/ml). These effects of PTX could be a consequence of phosphodiesterase inhibition, since they were mimicked by cAMP analogue dibutyryl cAMP. PTX failed to affect NO production when added to cells in which inducible NO synthase (iNOS) had already been induced with IFN-gamma and any further induction was blocked by cycloheximide (1 ug/ml), indicating that PTX modulates NO synthesis in L929 cells probably on a pretranslational level. Inhibition of iNOS with L-NAME (3 mM), although completely abolishing NO production, did not have any effect on proliferation of IFN-gamma or IFN-gamma + PTX-treated L929 cells, arguing against the possibility that growth suppression of these cells was due to the enhanced NO production. Moreover, the observation that the NO donor sodium nitroprusside (10-250 microM) significantly increased incorporation of [3H]thymidine in L929 fibroblasts suggests a role for NO in the positive regulation of their growth.