Abstract 3556: CXCR4 controls BCL-2 expression and function by regulating miR-15a/16-1 expression in tumor cells

Background: CXCR4 is overexpressed in the majority of tumor cells and its degree of expression often correlates with disease severity. Binding of CXCL12 to the CXCR4 receptor activates signaling pathways which are crucial for the interaction of hematopoietic cells with the microenvironment and cell survival. Signaling activated through CXCR4 was shown to be detrimental by increasing survival of tumor cells and promoting resistance to therapy in many types of cancer. CXCR4-antagonists, such as BL-8040, currently in phase II trials, were shown to selectively inhibit tumor cell growth and to induce apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. However, the molecular mechanism by which CXCR4 overexpression triggers tumor cell survival and its inhibition leads to cell death is not fully understood.

Objective: To study the mechanism by which the CXCR4 pathway controls malignant cell survival and death through regulating miR-15a/16-1 expression.

Method: We assessed the effect of CXCR4 overexpression, its activation and inhibition, on the expression of miR-15a/16-1 and their target genes, BCL-2, MCL-1 and cyclin D1, in a variety of tumor cells in vitro and in vivo.

Results:

We found that overexpression of CXCR4 in tumor cells or stimulation of cells with its ligand, CXCL12, lead to up-regulation of miR-15a/16-1, resulting in down-regulation of their target genes BCL-2, MCL-1 and cyclin D1. Furthermore, overexpression of CXCR4 in these cells increases tumorgenesis and shifts their oncogenic dependency from the BCL-2 to the CXCR4/ERK signaling pathway. Antagonists of CXCR4 such as BL-8040 were shown to induce apoptotic cell death of malignant cells. BL-8040 was found to increase the expression of miR-15a/16-1 and reduce the expression of BCL2, MCL1 and cyclin D1. Importantly, CXCR4 inhibition using BL-8040 induced apoptosis in vitro and in vivo in AML and neuroblastoma tumors. This was mediated by inhibition of survival signals by ERK and down-regulation of BCL-2 expression. In support of these results overexpression of miR-15a/16-1 in AML and neuroblastoma cells was shown to induce their apoptosis.

Conclusions:

Our results demonstrate, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, that CXCR4 signaling regulates the expression of miR-15a/16-1 and their target genes. Our results suggest that overexpression of CXCR4 may override the survival dependency of tumor cells on BCL-2, MCL-1, and cyclin D1 leading to resistance of tumor cells to inhibition of these pathways. Furthermore, these results indicate that ligands of CXCR4 may tip the balance toward cell death by down- regulating survival signals through miR-15a/16-1 suppression of BCL2, MCL1 and cyclin D1 expression.

Citation Format: Shiri Klein Silberman, Michal Abraham, Baruch Bulvik, Hanna Wald, Orly Eizenberg, Dvorah Olam, Lola Weiss, Katia Beider, Ori Wald, Shlomo Bulvik, Abraham Avigdor, Ohad Benjamini, Eithan Galun, Arnon Nagler, Yaron Pereg, Amnon Peled. CXCR4 controls BCL-2 expression and function by regulating miR-15a/16-1 expression in tumor cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 3556.