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Aurora kinases play an important role in chromosome alignment,segregation,and cytokinesis during mitosis. We have recently shown that hematopoietic malignant cells including those from acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) aberrantly expressed Aurora A and B kinases,and ZM447439,a potent inhibitor of Aurora kinases,effectively induced growth arrest and apoptosis of a variety of leukemia cells. The present study explored the effect of AZD1152,a highly selective inhibitor of Aurora B kinase,on various types of human leukemia cells. AZD1152 inhibited the proliferation of AML lines (HL-60,NB4,MOLM13),ALL line (PALL-2),biphenotypic leukemia (MV4-11),acute eosinophilic leukemia (EOL-1),and the blast crisis of chronic myeloid leukemia K562 cells with an IC50 ranging from 3 nM to 40 nM,as measured by thymidine uptake on day 2 of culture. These cells had 4N/8N DNA content followed by apoptosis,as measured by cell-cycle analysis and annexin V staining,respectively. Of note,AZD1152 synergistically enhanced the antiproliferative activity of vincristine,a tubulin depolymerizing agent,and daunorubicin,a topoisomerase II inhibitor,against the MOLM13 and PALL-2 cells in vitro. Furthermore,AZD1152 potentiated the action of vincristine and daunorubicin in a MOLM13 murine xenograft model. Taken together,AZD1152 is a promising new agent for treatment of individuals with leukemia. The combined administration of AZD1152 and conventional chemotherapeutic agent to patients with leukemia warrants further investigation. View Publication

Overexpression of wild-type MN1 is a negative prognostic factor in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with normal cytogenetics. We evaluated whether MN1 plays a functional role in leukemogenesis. We demonstrate using retroviral gene transfer and bone marrow (BM) transplantation that MN1 overexpression rapidly induces lethal AML in mice. Insertional mutagenesis and chromosomal instability were ruled out as secondary aberrations. MN1 increased resistance to all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA)-induced cell-cycle arrest and differentiation by more than 3000-fold in vitro. The differentiation block could be released by fusion of a transcriptional activator (VP16) to MN1 without affecting the ability to immortalize BM cells,suggesting that MN1 blocks differentiation by transcriptional repression. We then evaluated whether MN1 expression levels in patients with AML (excluding M3-AML) correlated with resistance to ATRA treatment in elderly patients uniformly treated within treatment protocol AMLHD98-B. Strikingly,patients with low MN1 expression who received ATRA had a significantly prolonged event-free (P = .008) and overall (P = .04) survival compared with patients with either low MN1 expression and no ATRA,or high MN1 expression with or without ATRA. MN1 is a unique oncogene in hematopoiesis that both promotes proliferation/self-renewal and blocks differentiation,and may become useful as a predictive marker in AML treatment. View Publication

Aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity is used to define normal hematopoietic stem cell (HSC),but its link to leukemic stem cells (LSC) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is currently unknown. We hypothesize that ALDH activity in AML might be correlated with the presence of LSC. Fifty-eight bone marrow (BM) samples were collected from AML (n=43),acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) (n=8) and normal cases (n=7). In 14 AML cases,a high SSC(lo)ALDH(br) cell population was identified (ALDH(+)AML) (median: 14.89%,range: 5.65-48.01%),with the majority of the SSC(lo)ALDH(br) cells coexpressing CD34(+). In another 29 cases,there was undetectable (n=23) or rare (textless or =5%) (n=6) SSC(lo)ALDH(br) population (ALDH(-)AML). Among other clinicopathologic variables,ALDH(+)AML was significantly associated with adverse cytogenetic abnormalities. CD34(+) BM cells from ALDH(+)AML engrafted significantly better in NOD/SCID mice (ALDH(+)AML: injected bone 21.11+/-9.07%; uninjected bone 1.52+/-0.75% vs ALDH(-)AML: injected bone 1.77+/-1.66% (P=0.05); uninjected bone 0.23+/-0.23% (P=0.03)) with the engrafting cells showing molecular and cytogenetic aberrations identical to the original clones. Normal BM contained a small SSC(lo)ALDH(br) population (median: 2.92%,range: 0.92-5.79%),but none of the ALL cases showed this fraction. In conclusion,SSC(lo)ALDH(br) cells in ALDH(+)AML might denote primitive LSC and confer an inferior prognosis in patients. View Publication

In order to investigate the biologic processes underlying and resulting from the megakaryocytic hyperplasia that characterizes idiopathic myelofibrosis (IMF),peripheral blood CD34+ cells isolated from patients with IMF,polycythemia vera (PV),and G-CSF-mobilized healthy volunteers were cultured in the presence of stem cell factor and thrombopoietin. IMF CD34+ cells generated 24-fold greater numbers of megakaryocytes (MKs) than normal CD34+ cells. IMF MKs were also shown to have a delayed pattern of apoptosis and to overexpress the antiapoptotic protein bcl-xL. MK hyperplasia in IMF is,therefore,likely a consequence of both the increased ability of IMF progenitor cells to generate MKs and a decreased rate of MK apoptosis. Media conditioned (CM) by CD61+ cells generated in vitro from CD34+ cells were then assayed for the levels of growth factors and proteases. Higher levels of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) and active matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP9) were observed in media conditioned with IMF CD61+ cells than normal or PV CD61+ cells. Both normal and IMF CD61+ cells produced similar levels of VEGF. MK-derived TGF-B and MMP-9,therefore,likely contribute to the development of many pathological epiphenomena associated with IMF. View Publication

Disruption of pathways leading to programmed cell death plays a major role in most malignancies,including multiple myeloma (MM). ABT-737 is a BH3 mimetic small-molecule inhibitor that binds with high affinity to Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL,preventing the sequestration of proapoptotic molecules and shifting the cell survival/apoptosis balance toward apoptosis induction. In this study,we show that ABT-737 is cytotoxic to MM cell lines,including those resistant to conventional therapies,and primary tumor cells. Flow cytometric analysis of intracellular levels of Bcl-2 family proteins demonstrates a clear inversion of the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio leading to induction of apoptosis. Activation of the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway was indicated by mitochondrial membrane depolarization and caspase cleavage. Additionally,several signaling pathways known to be important for MM cell survival are disrupted following treatment with ABT-737. The impact of ABT-737 on survival could not be overcome by the addition of interleukin-6,vascular endothelial growth factor or insulin-like growth factor,suggesting that ABT-737 may be effective in preventing the growth and survival signals provided by the microenvironment. These data indicate that therapies targeting apoptotic pathways may be effective in MM treatment and warrant clinical evaluation of ABT-737 and similar drugs alone or in combination with other agents in the setting of MM. View Publication

The present study reports for the first time a dual antiglioma effect of the well-known antidiabetic drug metformin. In low-density cultures of the C6 rat glioma cell line,metformin blocked the cell cycle progression in G(0)/G(1) phase without inducing significant cell death. In confluent C6 cultures,on the other hand,metformin caused massive induction of caspase-dependent apoptosis associated with c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) activation,mitochondrial depolarization and oxidative stress. Metformin-triggered apoptosis was completely prevented by agents that block mitochondrial permeability transition (cyclosporin A) and oxygen radical production (N-acetylcisteine),while the inhibitors of JNK activation (SP600125) or glycolysis (sodium fluoride,iodoacetate) provided partial protection. The antiglioma effect of metformin was reduced by compound C,an inhibitor of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK),and was mimicked by the AMPK agonist AICAR. Similar effects were observed in the human glioma cell line U251,while rat primary astrocytes were completely resistant to the antiproliferative and proapoptotic action of metformin. View Publication

Infection with a recombinant murine-feline gammaretrovirus,MoFe2,or with the parent virus,Moloney murine leukemia virus,caused significant reduction in B-lymphoid differentiation of bone marrow at 2 to 8 weeks postinfection. The suppression was selective,in that myeloid potential was significantly increased by infection. Analysis of cell surface markers and immunoglobulin H gene rearrangements in an in vitro model demonstrated normal B-lymphoid differentiation after infection but significantly reduced viability of differentiating cells. This reduction in viability may confer a selective advantage on undifferentiated lymphoid progenitors in the bone marrow of gammaretrovirus-infected animals and thereby contribute to the establishment of a premalignant state. View Publication

Wortmannin (Wm),a steroid-like molecule of 428.4 Da,appears to be unstable in biological fluids (apparent chemical instability),yet it exhibits an antiproliferative activity in assays employing a 48 hr incubation period (prolonged bioactivity),a situation we refer to as the wortmannin paradox." Under physiological conditions� View Publication

Activated tyrosine kinases have been frequently implicated in the pathogenesis of cancer,including acute myeloid leukemia (AML),and are validated targets for therapeutic intervention with small-molecule kinase inhibitors. To identify novel activated tyrosine kinases in AML,we used a discovery platform consisting of immunoaffinity profiling coupled to mass spectrometry that identifies large numbers of tyrosine-phosphorylated proteins,including active kinases. This method revealed the presence of an activated colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R) kinase in the acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (AMKL) cell line MKPL-1. Further studies using siRNA and a small-molecule inhibitor showed that CSF1R is essential for the growth and survival of MKPL-1 cells. DNA sequence analysis of cDNA generated by 5'RACE from CSF1R coding sequences identified a novel fusion of the RNA binding motif 6 (RBM6) gene to CSF1R gene generated presumably by a t(3;5)(p21;q33) translocation. Expression of the RBM6-CSF1R fusion protein conferred interleukin-3 (IL-3)-independent growth in BaF3 cells,and induces a myeloid proliferative disease (MPD) with features of megakaryoblastic leukemia in a murine transplant model. These findings identify a novel potential therapeutic target in leukemogenesis,and demonstrate the utility of phosphoproteomic strategies for discovery of tyrosine kinase alleles. View Publication

The kinase inhibitor imatinib mesylate targeting the oncoprotein Bcr-Abl has revolutionized the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). However,even though imatinib successfully controls the leukemia in chronic phase,it seems not to be able to cure the disease,potentially necessitating lifelong treatment with the inhibitor under constant risk of relapse. On a molecular level,the cause of disease persistence is not well understood. Initial studies implied that innate features of primitive progenitor cancer stem cells may be responsible for the phenomenon. Here,we describe an assay using retroviral insertional mutagenesis (RIM) to identify genes contributing to disease persistence in vivo. We transplanted mice with bone marrow cells retrovirally infected with the Bcr-Abl oncogene and subsequently treated the animals with imatinib to select for leukemic cells in which the proviral integration had affected genes modulating the imatinib response. Southern blot analysis demonstrated clonal outgrowth of cells carrying similar integration sites. Candidate genes located near the proviral insertion sites were identified,among them the transcription factor RUNX3. Proviral integration near the RUNX3 promoter induced RUNX3 expression,and Bcr-Abl-positive cell lines with stable or inducible expression of RUNX1 or RUNX3 were protected from imatinib-induced apoptosis. Furthermore,imatinib treatment selected for RUNX1-expressing cells in vitro and in vivo after infection of primary bone marrow cells with Bcr-Abl and RUNX1. Our results demonstrate the utility of RIM for probing molecular modulators of targeted therapies and suggest a role for members of the RUNX transcription factor family in disease persistence in CML patients. View Publication

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Chemokines are soluble mediators involved in angiogenesis,cellular growth control and immunomodulation. In the present study we investigated the effects of various chemokines on proliferation of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) cells and constitutive chemokine release by primary AML cells. DESIGN AND METHODS: Native human AML cells derived from 68 consecutive patients were cultured in vitro. We investigated AML cell proliferation (3H-thymidine incorporation,colony formation),chemokine receptor expression,constitutive chemokine release and chemotaxis of normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells. RESULTS: Exogenous chemokines usually did not have any effect on AML blast proliferation in the absence of hematopoietic growth factors,but when investigating growth factor-dependent (interleukin 3 + granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor + stem cell factor) proliferation in suspension cultures the following patient subsets were identified: (i) patients whose cells showed chemokine-induced growth enhancement (8 patients); (ii) divergent effects on proliferation (15 patients); and (iii) no effect (most patients). These patient subsets did not differ in chemokine receptor expression,but,compared to CD34- AML cells,CD34+ cells showed higher expression of several receptors. Chemokines also increased the proliferation of clonogenic AML cells from the first subset of patients. Furthermore,a broad constitutive chemokine release profile was detected for most patients,and the following chemokine clusters could be identified: CCL2-4/CXCL1/8,CCL5/CXCL9-11 (possibly also CCL23) and CCL13/17/22/24/CXCL5 (possibly also CXCL6). Only the CCL2-4/CXCL1/8 cluster showed significant correlations between corresponding mRNA levels and NFkB levels/activation. The chemotaxis of normal immunocompetent cells for patients without constitutive chemokine release was observed to be decreased. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS: Differences in chemokine responsiveness as well as chemokine release contribute to patient heterogeneity in AML. Patients with AML can be classified into distinct subsets according to their chemokine responsiveness and chemokine release profile. View Publication

In the context of pancreatic cancer,metastasis remains the most critical determinant of resectability,and hence survival. The objective of this study was to determine whether Hedgehog (Hh) signaling plays a role in pancreatic cancer invasion and metastasis because this is likely to have profound clinical implications. In pancreatic cancer cell lines,Hh inhibition with cyclopamine resulted in down-regulation of snail and up-regulation of E-cadherin,consistent with inhibition of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition,and was mirrored by a striking reduction of in vitro invasive capacity (P textless 0.0001). Conversely,Gli1 overexpression in immortalized human pancreatic ductal epithelial cells led to a markedly invasive phenotype (P textless 0.0001) and near total down-regulation of E-cadherin. In an orthotopic xenograft model,cyclopamine profoundly inhibited metastatic spread; only one of seven cyclopamine-treated mice developed pulmonary micrometastases versus seven of seven mice with multiple macrometastases in control animals. Combination of gemcitabine and cyclopamine completely abrogated metastases while also significantly reducing the size of primary" tumors. Gli1 levels were up-regulated in tissue samples of metastatic human pancreatic cancer samples compared with matched primary tumors. Aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) overexpression is characteristic for both hematopoietic progenitors and leukemic stem cells; cyclopamine preferentially reduced "ALDH-high" cells by approximately 3-fold (P = 0.048). We confirm pharmacologic Hh pathway inhibition as a valid therapeutic strategy for pancreatic cancer and show for the first time its particular efficacy against metastatic spread. By targeting specific cellular subpopulations likely involved in tumor initiation at metastatic sites� View Publication