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Lee JY, Lee SE, Han AR, Lee J, Yoon YS, Kim HJ. FLT4 as a marker for predicting prognostic risk of refractory acute myeloid leukemia. Haematologica 2023; 108:2933-2945. [PMID: 37317880 PMCID: PMC10620598 DOI: 10.3324/haematol.2022.282472] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2022] [Accepted: 06/05/2023] [Indexed: 06/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Treating patients with refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remains challenging. Currently there is no effective treatment for refractory AML. Increasing evidence has demonstrated that refractory/relapsed AML is associated with leukemic blasts which can confer resistance to anticancer drugs. We have previously reported that high expression of Fms-related tyrosine kinase 4 (FLT4) is associated with increased cancer activity in AML. However, the functional role of FLT4 in leukemic blasts remains unknown. Here, we explored the significance of FLT4 expression in leukemic blasts of refractory patients and mechanisms involved in the survival of AML blasts. Inhibition or absence of FLT4 in AML blasts suppressed homing to bone marrow of immunocompromised mice and blocked engraftment of AML blasts. Moreover, FLT4 inhibition by MAZ51, an antagonist, effectively reduced the number of leukemic cell-derived colony-forming units and increased apoptosis of blasts derived from refractory patients when it was co-treated with cytosine arabinoside under vascular endothelial growth factor C, its ligand. AML patients who expressed high cytosolic FLT4 were linked to an AML-refractory status by internalization mechanism. In conclusion, FLT4 has a biological function in leukemogenesis and refractoriness. This novel insight will be useful for targeted therapy and prognostic stratification of AML.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ji Yoon Lee
- Leukemia Research Institute, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea; Severance Biomedical Science Institute, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul
| | - Sung-Eun Lee
- Catholic Hematology Hospital, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul
| | - A-Reum Han
- Leukemia Research Institute, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul
| | - Jongeun Lee
- Severance Biomedical Science Institute, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul
| | - Young-Sup Yoon
- Severance Biomedical Science Institute, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea; Department of Medicine, Emory University.
| | - Hee-Je Kim
- Leukemia Research Institute, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea; Catholic Hematology Hospital, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul.
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Jeon SB, Koh H, Han AR, Kim J, Lee S, Lee JH, Im SS, Yoon YS, Lee JH, Lee JY. Ferric citrate and apo-transferrin enable erythroblast maturation with β-globin from hemogenic endothelium. NPJ Regen Med 2023; 8:46. [PMID: 37626061 PMCID: PMC10457393 DOI: 10.1038/s41536-023-00320-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2022] [Accepted: 08/08/2023] [Indexed: 08/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Red blood cell (RBC) generation from human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) offers potential for innovative cell therapy in regenerative medicine as well as developmental studies. Ex vivo erythropoiesis from PSCs is currently limited by the low efficiency of functional RBCs with β-globin expression in culture systems. During induction of β-globin expression, the absence of a physiological microenvironment, such as a bone marrow niche, may impair cell maturation and lineage specification. Here, we describe a simple and reproducible culture system that can be used to generate erythroblasts with β-globin expression. We prepared a two-dimensional defined culture with ferric citrate treatment based on definitive hemogenic endothelium (HE). Floating erythroblasts derived from HE cells were primarily CD45+CD71+CD235a+ cells, and their number increased remarkably upon Fe treatment. Upon maturation, the erythroblasts cultured in the presence of ferric citrate showed high transcriptional levels of β-globin and enrichment of genes associated with heme synthesis and cell cycle regulation, indicating functionality. The rapid maturation of these erythroblasts into RBCs was observed when injected in vivo, suggesting the development of RBCs that were ready to grow. Hence, induction of β-globin expression may be explained by the effects of ferric citrate that promote cell maturation by binding with soluble transferrin and entering the cells.Taken together, upon treatment with Fe, erythroblasts showed advanced maturity with a high transcription of β-globin. These findings can help devise a stable protocol for the generation of clinically applicable RBCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soo-Been Jeon
- CHA Advanced Research Institute, Bundang CHA Medical Center, CHA University, Seongnam, Kyunggi-do, 13488, South Korea
| | - Hyebin Koh
- Futuristic Animal Resource & Research Center (FARRC), Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), Cheongju, Republic of Korea
- Department of Functional Genomics, KRIBB School of Bioscience, Korea University of Science and Technology (UST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - A-Reum Han
- CHA Advanced Research Institute, Bundang CHA Medical Center, CHA University, Seongnam, Kyunggi-do, 13488, South Korea
| | - Jieun Kim
- National Primate Research Center (NPRC), Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), Cheongju, Republic of Korea
| | - Sunghun Lee
- CHA Advanced Research Institute, Bundang CHA Medical Center, CHA University, Seongnam, Kyunggi-do, 13488, South Korea
| | - Jae-Ho Lee
- Department of Physiology, Keimyung University School of Medicine, Daegu, 42601, Korea
| | - Seung-Soon Im
- Department of Physiology, Keimyung University School of Medicine, Daegu, 42601, Korea
| | - Young-Sup Yoon
- Severance Biomedical Science Institute, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
- Department of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, USA
| | - Jong-Hee Lee
- Department of Functional Genomics, KRIBB School of Bioscience, Korea University of Science and Technology (UST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
- National Primate Research Center (NPRC), Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), Cheongju, Republic of Korea.
| | - Ji Yoon Lee
- CHA Advanced Research Institute, Bundang CHA Medical Center, CHA University, Seongnam, Kyunggi-do, 13488, South Korea.
- Department of Biomedical Science, CHA University, Seongnam, Kyunggi-do, 13488, South Korea.
- Severance Biomedical Science Institute, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
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Han AR, Lee JE, Ko SY, Shin HS, Im JH, Lee JY, Lee DR. Use of lysates from pooled human mononuclear cells to activate CD3 T cells in humanized mice with low human cell engraftment efficiency. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol Anim 2022; 58:571-578. [PMID: 35859242 DOI: 10.1007/s11626-022-00701-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2022] [Accepted: 06/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
In regenerative medicine, humanized mice (hu-mice) are extremely valuable for verifying the cross talk between immune cells and therapeutic cells. Given the highly dynamic nature of the activities of immune cells, the in vitro platform does not allow for screening of their exact interactions with different therapeutic cells. By contrast, hu-mice have been widely applied for in vivo studies, especially those on immune rejection. However, the full reconstitution of lymphoid lineage cells in hu-mice remains to be realized. In this study, we investigated whether lysates from healthy donor-derived pooled mononuclear cells (MNCs) can promote the increase of lymphoid lineage cells in hu-mice. The pooled MNC lysate treatment of hu-mice possessing a low proportion of CD45 cells resulted in significant increases in CD3 cells and CD45 cells with the RO phenotype. The diverse epitopes from the pooled MNC lysates significantly induced the proportion of lymphoid lineage cells in the thymus and spleen after therapeutic cells with mismatched HLAs were co-injected into the hu-mice. These findings demonstrate the technical benefits of using pooled MNC lysates for reconstituting lymphoid lineage cells in hu-mice, providing a valuable in vivo platform for investigating the cross talk between lymphoid immune cells and therapeutic cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- A-Reum Han
- Department of Biomedical Science, College of Life Science, CHA University, Seongnam, 13488, South Korea
| | - Jeoung Eun Lee
- CHA Advanced Research Institute, Bundang CHA Medical Center, CHA University, Seongnam, 13488, South Korea
| | - Seung Young Ko
- Department of Radiation Oncology, CHA Bundang Medical Center, CHA University, Seongnam, 13496, South Korea
| | - Hyun Soo Shin
- Department of Radiation Oncology, CHA Bundang Medical Center, CHA University, Seongnam, 13496, South Korea
| | - Jung Ho Im
- Department of Radiation Oncology, CHA Bundang Medical Center, CHA University, Seongnam, 13496, South Korea
| | - Ji Yoon Lee
- CHA Advanced Research Institute, Bundang CHA Medical Center, CHA University, Seongnam, 13488, South Korea.
| | - Dong Ryul Lee
- Department of Biomedical Science, College of Life Science, CHA University, Seongnam, 13488, South Korea.
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