Induction of differentiation of acute promyelocytic leukemia cells by a cytidine deaminase-resistant analogue of 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine, 1-(2-deoxy-2-methylene-beta-D-erythro-pentofuranosyl)cytidine

Since the establishment of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) differentiation therapy, the prognosis of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) has improved, and APL has become a curable subtype of acute myelocytic leukemia. Complete remission can be achieved with ATRA alone, but disease-free survival is still too short because of relapse. To overcome this drawback, ATRA has been used in combination with chemotherapeutic agents such as 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine (araC) and daunorubicin. However, growth of the APL cell lines NB4 and HT93 is less sensitive to araC than to that of other myeloid leukemia cell lines such as HL-60 and U937. ATRA effectively induced granulocytic differentiation of NB4 and HT93 cells, whereas araC did not, even in a high concentration. A cytidine deaminase-resistant analogue of araC, 1-(2-deoxy-2-methylene-beta-D-erythro-pentofuranosyl)cytidine (DMDC), inhibited the growth of NB4 and HT-93 cells and was also effective on HL-60 and U937 cells. The promyelocytic cell lines were induced to differentiate by DMDC and other cytidine deaminase-resistant analogues. Among them, DMDC was the most potent in inducing differentiation and inhibiting the growth of NB4 cells. The ATRA-induced differentiation of NB4 cells was not augmented by araC, whereas combined treatment with ATRA and DMDC had more than additive effects in inducing the differentiation of NB4 cells. Similar results were observed in a primary culture of leukemia cells that had been freshly isolated from APL patients. These results suggest that DMDC may play a role in the treatment of APL.     

The ubiquitin-proteasome pathway plays essential roles in ATRA-induced leukemia cells G0/G1 phase arrest and transition into granulocytic differentiation

All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) has been successfully used in differentiation therapy for acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) in the clinic. ATRA-induced differentiation of leukemia cells is accompanied by a G0/G1 arrest, yet how ATRA couples cell cycle arrest to differentiation remains largely unknown. Here we observed that the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway (UPP) was activated upon ATRA treatment in the human acute myeloid leukemia cell lines, NB4 and HL-60, as represented by the accumulation of ubiquitinated proteins, the up-regulation of ubiquitin mRNA and increased 20S proteasome activity. Interestingly, we found that complete inhibition of proteasome activity suppressed ATRA-induced proliferation/differentiation (P/D) transition in both cell lines. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the exact protein contributing to this phenomenon is different in these two cell lines. Cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2) and Cyclin E were degraded by the UPP; they accumulated significantly after complete inhibition of the proteasome in ATRA-treated NB4 and HL-60 cells, respectively. These findings suggested that the UPP might be indispensable in the ATRA-induced G0/G1 arrest and differentiation of leukemia cells. The exact protein degraded by the UPP to promote the myeloid maturation program set in motion by the retinoid may be cell type dependent.     

PML-RARα表达对细胞凋亡诱导剂敏感性差异的分子机制研究

目的 研究PML-RARα表达阴性的HL-60细胞和表达阳性的NB4细胞对三氧化二砷(As2O3)诱导细胞凋亡敏感性差异的分子机制.方法 经As2O3作用人急性早幼粒细胞白血病HL-60和NB4细胞后,MTT法检测细胞增殖变化,流式细胞术测定细胞凋亡水平的变化,RT-PCR检测Bcl-2、Bax、Fas等基因在mRNA水平的表达变化.结果 As2O3可诱导NIM细胞出现明显的凋亡现象,细胞增殖受到明显抑制(P<0.05),Bcl-2基因表达明显下调(P<0.05),但Bax、Fas基因表达没有明显变化(P>0.05),Bcl-2/Bax比值明显降低(P<0.05).而对于PML-RARa表达阴性的HL-60细胞,经小剂量As2O3作用后,对细胞的增殖抑制作用不明显(P>0.05),未出现明显凋亡现象,Bcl-2、Bax、Fas或Bcl-2/Bax表达水平及比值变化不明显(P>0.05).结论 Bcl-2/Bax表达比值变化与否,可能是小剂量As2O3诱导PML-RARα表达阴性的HL-60细胞和表达阳性的NB4细胞发生凋亡差异的分子机制.     

Effects of sodium stibogluconate on differentiation and proliferation of human myeloid leukemia cell lines in vitro.

PTPases are key signaling molecules and targets for developing novel therapeutics. We have studied the in vitro biological activity of PTPase inhibitor sodium stibogluconate (SS) on differentiation and proliferation of myeloid leukemia cell lines (NB4, HL-60 and U937). SS (250 microg/ml, 6 days) induced 87% of NB4 cells to reduce nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT), in comparison to the 90% induced by ATRA (1 microM, 6 days). SS treatment of NB4 cells resulted in an increase of CD11b expression and of a morphologically more mature population, coincident with growth arrest at S phase and increased cell death. The effect of SS on NB4 differentiation was irreversible and required continuous drug exposure. SS (400 microg/ml, 6 days) induced 60% and 55% of NBT-positive cells in HL-60 and U937 cell lines, which were augmented in the presence of GM-CSF (25 ng/ml) to levels (85% and 81%, respectively) comparable to those induced by ATRA. SS induced increased tyrosine phosphorylation of cellular proteins in the AML cell lines and inactivated SHP-1 PTPase in NB4 cells, consistent with SS functioning as a PTPase inhibitor in the leukemia cells. These results provide the first evidence of an anti-leukemia activity of SS as a PTPase inhibitor.     

Nuclear retinoid receptors are involved in N-(4-hydroxyphenyl) retinamide (Fenretinide)-induced gene expression and growth inhibition in HL-60 acute myeloid leukemia cells

N-(4-hydroxyphenyl) retinamide (Fenretinide, 4-HPR) inhibits cell growth by inducing apoptosis in numerous tumor cell types including all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA)-resistant tumor cells. However, the mechanism(s) by which 4-HPR mediates its anti-proliferative effects remains unclear. Here, we determined whether 4-HPR induced growth inhibition and gene expression involve retinoid receptors in human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells (HL-60). We treated HL-60 and ATRA-resistant HL-60 (HL-60R) cells that express mutated RARalpha and very low levels of RARbeta, RARgamma and RXRalpha with 4-HPR (2 microM) for 3 days. 4-HPR showed significant anti-proliferative effects against both cell types and induced growth inhibition (92.7%) in HL-60 cells. However, at the same dose, 4-HPR induced only 53.4% growth inhibition in HL-60R cells. Growth inhibition by 4-HPR was significantly enhanced in HL-60R cells that were retroviraly transduced to express human RARalpha, RARbeta or RXRalpha (95.6%, 97.1%, and 75.6%, respectively), in comparison to HL-60R cells (P < 0.05), but not in HL-60R cells expressing RARgamma. Although ATRA and 4-HPR induced expression of CYP26, an ATRA-inducible gene encoding a cytochrome P450 enzyme, in HL-60 cells, both retinoids failed to induce CYP26 in HL-60R cells. However, induction of CYP26 mRNA by 4-HPR was restored in HL-60R cells expressing RARalpha and RARgamma, but not RARbeta and RXRalpha. In conclusion, our data suggest that nuclear retinoid receptors are involved in 4-HPR-induced growth inhibition and gene expression, and that 4-HPR can mediate its anti-proliferative effects through retinoid receptor-dependent mechanisms in HL-60 cells.     

Rap1GAP alters leukemia cell differentiation, apoptosis and invasion in vitro

Rap1GAP which regulates the GTP-GDP form switch of Rap1 is a member of the GTPase-activating protein (GAP) family and has recently received substantial attention. Rap1GAP is thought of as a putative tumor suppressor gene and plays an important role in human tumor progression including pancreatic cancer, thyroid cancer and melanoma. In the current study, we found that the expression of Rap1GAP was lower in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients compared to non-malignant blood disease patients. The expression of Rap1GAP was also low in HL-60, NB4, U937 and SHI-1 myeloid leukemia cell lines. Upregulated Rap1GAP in NB4 and HL-60 cells promoted cell differentiation induced by ATRA or TPA compared to the empty vector control cells. Furthermore, Rap1GAP-transfected cells also showed a higher rate of apoptosis in response to arsenic trioxide compared to the control counterpart cells. In addition, we found that increased expression of Rap1GAP promoted leukemia cell invasion may be due to matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9). In conclusion, these results demonstrated that Rap1GAP promoted leukemia cell differentiation and apoptosis, but increased leukemia cell invasion in?vitro.     

全反式维甲酸对HL-60细胞分化和凋亡的影响

背景与目的：用全反式维甲酸(all trans retinoid acid,ATRA)治疗早幼粒细胞性白血病(premyeloid leukemia,M3)在肿瘤治疗史上是一个重要里程碑。已有研究表明,ATRA治疗白血病的机理是诱导白血病细胞向成熟细胞方向分化,然而人们对分化的肿瘤细胞最终去向还不完全清楚。本实验进一步探讨ATRA诱导HL-60细胞分化和凋亡的关系。方法：以分化诱导剂ATRA(终浓度为10μmol／L)作用不同时间的HL-60细胞为检测对象,应用流式细胞仪分析细胞表面的分化标志物及细胞周期;经碘化丙啶(propidium iodide,PI)染色后,激光共聚焦显微镜下对已分化细胞进行形态学确认;应用流式细胞仪检测药物诱导后不同时间点的细胞凋亡。结果：(1)随着药物诱导时间的延长,被诱导的HL-60细胞体积逐渐增大,在72h后,被诱导细胞开始表达分化标志物CD11b并出现细胞核型的变化;(2)在药物诱导96h后,细胞开始出现了凋亡峰,而在药物诱导72h后脱药培养8h,则可以出现高于96h的凋亡峰。结论：ATRA并不能诱导HL-60细胞完成终端分化,但是该药可以诱导白血病细胞向成熟方向分化,而且已分化的肿瘤细胞易于发生凋亡。     

全反式维甲酸对HL-60细胞VEGF表达与分泌影响的分子机制研究

目的 探讨人髓系白血病细胞株HL-60在诱导分化过程中血管内皮生长因子(VEGF)表达及分泌水平变化的分子机制.方法 四甲基偶氮唑蓝(MTT)法检测HL-60细胞被全反式维甲酸(ATRA)诱导分化后的增殖水平变化,流式细胞术测定HL-60细胞CD11b表达和细胞周期的改变,半定量逆转录聚合酶链式反应(RT-PCR)检测HL-60细胞VEGF、c-myc、缺氧诱导因子(HIF)-1α、基质金属蛋白酶(MMP)-9和MMP-2 mRNA表达水平,应用酶联免疫吸附试验(ELISA)法检测药物作用前后HL-60细胞培养上清液中VEGF蛋白的含量.结果 经ATRA诱导分化后,HL-60细胞增殖水平明显降低,CD11b表达水平明显升高,出现粒系定向分化趋势,且分化程度明显升高(P<0.05),c-myc与VEGFmRNA表达水平均明显下调(P<0.05),HIF-1α mRNA表达水平则明显升高(P<0.05).用MMP-2及MMP-9抑制因子Ⅰ阻断HL-60细胞MMP-9和MMP-2表达后,细胞培养上清中VEGF蛋白分泌量明显降低(P<0.05).结论 HL-60细胞被诱导分化过程中VEGF的表达与c-myc表达正相关,与HIF-1α表达负相关.MMP-9、MMP-2可能是调控HL-60细胞分泌VEGF的主要原因之一.     

A metal chelator,diphenylthiocarbazone, induces apoptosis in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) cells mediated by a caspase-dependent pathway without a modulation of retinoic acid signaling pathways

A metal chelator, diphenylthiocarbazone (dithizone), has been reported to induce differentiation and apoptosis of the human myeloid leukemia cell line HL-60, however, very little is known about the mechanism of dithizone-induced apoptosis. Here, we report for the first time that dithizone can induce inhibition of cellular growth of retinoic acid (RA)-sensitive NB4 and RA-resistant UF-1 APL cells via induction of apoptosis but not differentiation. Treatment of NB4 cells with dithizone markedly-induced apoptosis, which was associated with the loss of mitochondrial transmembrane potentials (Delta Psi(m)) and activation of caspase-3 and -9. Further investigation of the RA-resistant UF-1 APL cells showed that dithizone-induced apoptosis to a lesser extent. However, neither dithizone alone nor in combination with all-trans RA induced the expression of myeloid differentiation antigen CD11b. Concomitantly, the degradation of PML/RARalpha fusion protein was not observed after treatment with dithizone alone, and the degradation was not enhanced by the combination of dithizone and all-trans RA. We conclude that dithizone, a metal chelator, induced apoptosis without differentiation in APL cells in association with Delta Psi(m) collapse and caspase-3 and -9 activation.     

Myeloid and monocytoid leukemia cells have different sensitivity to differentiation-inducing activity of deoxyadenosine analogs

The differentiation-inducing effect of clinically applicable analogs of deoxyadenosine on myelomonocytic leukemia cells was examined. Monocytoid leukemia cells were more sensitive to the analogs than were erythroid or myeloid leukemia cells based on the inhibition of cell growth and induction of cell differentiation. Monocytoid leukemia cells were highly sensitive to combined treatment with 2'-deoxycoformycin (dCF) and 9-beta-D-arabinofuranosyladenine (Ara A) for inducing cell differentiation. Ara A induced the differentiation of monocytoid leukemia U937 and THP-1 cells at concentrations which were 1/1000-10000 of that at which it induced the differentiation of other cell lines in the presence of dCF. In combination with a low concentration of 1alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (VD3), the induction of the monocytic differentiation was greater in monoblastic U937 cells. Adenosine deaminase-resistant analogs such as fludarabine (FLU) and cladribine (CdA) also induced the differentiation of human myelomonocytic leukemia cells, and these analogs synergistically enhanced the differentiation induced by all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) or VD3. CdA was the most potent analog for inducing the differentiation of myeloid leukemia NB4 and HL-60 cells in the presence or absence of ATRA. These findings indicate that dCF + Ara A and CdA may be effective for the therapy of acute monocytoid and myeloid leukemia, respectively.     

Effect of arsenic trioxide or ATRA on primary APL cell or HL-60 cells and their value analysis in hyperleukocytosis

We have done a lots of works to detect the mechanism of hyperleukocytosis in patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) after treatment with all trans retinoic acid (ATRA). The early results of study showed that some important factors are related to the hyperleukocytosis, for example, the relationship between serum G-CSF and variation of promyelocytes or more matured granulocytes[1,2]. The further study also indicated that effect of G-CSF on leukemia cells was related to the variat…     

All-trans retinoic acid induces different immunophenotypic changes on human HL60 and NB4 myeloid leukaemias

All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) is used to treat patients with acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL), inducing APL cells to differentiate into abnormal neutrophils. To investigate the possible relationship between the chromosome translocation t(15;17) found in APL and ATRA treatment, the human myeloid leukaemia cell lines HL60 and NB4, that are PML-RARalpha negative and positive, respectively, were treated with ATRA and immunophenotyped using a CD antibody microarray. For HL60 cells, ATRA induced major increases in descending order of CD38, CD11b, CD45RO, CD11c, CD54 and CD36 with repression of CD117 and CD44. For NB4 cells, ATRA induced major increases in descending order of CD11c, CD54, CD11a, CD11b, CD53, CD65, CD138, CD66c and T-cell receptor alpha/beta (TCRalpha/beta), with repression of CD38 and CD9. The induction of a number of these CD antigens is consistent with the known differentiation of these leukaemias to abnormal neutrophils. Approximately half of the antigens up-regulated by ATRA on NB4 cells were adhesion molecules, including CD11a, CD11b, CD11c, CD54, CD66c and CD138, consistent with the increased adhesiveness of leukaemia cells observed for APL patients treated with ATRA. On HL60 cells, ATRA induced expression of CD38, CD43 and CD45RO and repressed CD117, while the converse was true on NB4 cells that contain chimeric PML-RARalpha. For NB4 cells, ATRA induced some remarkable increases in CD antigens not seen for HL60: CD14 (16.6-fold), CD32 (27.8), CD53 (20.5), CD65 (139), CD66c (79.7), CD126 (15.1), and CD138 (57.6). The expression of these antigens may be regulated by PML-RARalpha in the presence of ATRA. Such CD antigens could be targets for synergistic treatment of APL with therapeutic antibodies following ATRA treatment.     

WEB-2086 and WEB-2170 trigger apoptosis in both ATRA-sensitive and -resistant promyelocytic leukemia cells and greatly enhance ATRA differentiation potential.

PAF-receptor antagonists WEB-2086 and WEB-2170 (WEBs) have been previously shown to induce differentiation in murine and human leukemia cells. The present study describes the apoptotic-differentiative effect of WEBs in all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA)-sensitive (NB4) and -resistant (NB4-007-6 and NB4-MR4) acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) cell lines as well as blasts from patients with t(15;17) APL. NB4 cells exposed to 0.5-1 mM WEBs underwent striking growth arrest and massive apoptosis without appreciable differentiation; IC50 values after 3-day treatment of NB4 were 0.4 and 0.25 mM for WEB-2086 and WEB-2170, respectively. WEBs induced apoptosis also in the two ATRA-resistant NB4-007-6 and NB4-MR4 cell lines and in blasts from patients with t(15;17) APL. Moreover, subapoptotic WEBs acted synergistically with low-dose (0.025-0.05 microM) ATRA; this allowed to increase ATRA differentiation potential up to 40-fold and to improve both number and intensity of NBT-positive NB4 cells at definitely higher levels than with 1 muM ATRA alone. The powerful antiproliferative-apoptotic activities of WEBs in vitro on ATRA-sensitive, ATRA-resistant APL cells and blasts from patients with APL as well as drug capabilities to enhance ATRA differentiation potential suggested that these agents also due to their recognized tolerability in vivo might improve, alone or in combination, clinical treatment of APL.     

Apoptosis/differentiation-inducing effects of vitamin K2 on HL-60 cells: dichotomous nature of vitamin K2 in leukemia cells.

We originally reported that vitamin K2 (VK2) analogs, including menaquinone 4 (MK4) but not vitamin K1, effectively induce apoptosis in various types of primary cultured leukemia cells and leukemia cell lines in vitro. It has also been reported by others that VK2 showed the differentiation-inducing activity in leukemia cell lines. To investigate the discrepancy between apoptosis- and differentiation-inductions of leukemia cells by VK2 treatment, we used bcl-2 gene transfected HL-60 cells (HL-60-bcl-2) which resulted in five-fold over-expression of BCL-2 protein, and then compared the effects of MK4 to the control HL-60-neo cells. Seventy-two hours of exposure to various concentrations of MK4 resulted in growth inhibition of these cells in a dose-dependent manner (0.1-50 microM), however, HL-60-bcl-2 was less sensitive against MK4. MK4 potently induced apoptosis of HL-60-neo cells along with the depolarization of mitochondrial membrane potential and caspase-3 activation. Notably, HL-60-bcl-2 was almost completely resistant to apoptosis induction in response to MK4, although cell growth inhibition was still observed. In spite of the abrogation of apoptosis induction, about 90% of HL-60-bcl-2 cells were arrested in the G0/G1 phase within 48 h of exposure to 10 microM of MK4 accompanied by up-modulation of p27KIP1 expression. Concomitantly, HL-60-bcl-2 cells underwent monocytic differentiation. These data suggest that VK2 also shows the differentiation inducing effects on leukemia cells which are resistant against VK2-inducing apoptosis. The dichotomous nature of VK2 against leukemia cells appears to have clinical benefits for the treatment of patients with leukemias and myelodysplastic syndromes.