scholarly journals A Novel FBXO45-Gef-H1 Axis Controls Oncogenic Signaling in B-Cell Lymphoma

Blood ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 138 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 711-711
Author(s):  
Anagh Anant Sahasrabuddhe ◽  
Xiaofei Chen ◽  
Kaiyu Ma ◽  
Rui Wu ◽  
Richa Kapoor ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction: Diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common form of malignant lymphoma and may arise de novo, or through transformation from a pre-existing low-grade B cell lymphoma such as follicular lymphoma (FL). However, the post-translational mechanisms and deregulated pathways underlying the pathogenesis of disease evolution are not fully understood. Methods: We employed integrated functional and structural genomics and mass spectrometry (MS)-driven proteomics which implicated a possible novel tumor suppressor role for a conserved E3 ubiquitin ligase FBXO45 in DLBCL pathogenesis. We generated conditional knockout mice targeting loss of Fbxo45 in germinal center (GC) B-cells using the Cg1-Cre-loxP system and an assortment of CRISPR-mediated knockouts of FBXO45 in B cell lymphoma cells (FL518, BJAB, U2932). We engineered B cell lines (BJAB, U2932) to inducibly express FLAG-tagged FBXO45 to identify candidate substrates of FBXO45 using liquid chromatography-tandem MS. In vitro biochemical and in vivo studies using a variety of genetically-modified lines in xenograft studies in immunodeficient mice were performed to validate observations from proteogenomic studies. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) and genomic copy number studies were interrogated to investigate structural alterations targeting FBXO45 in primary human lymphoma samples. Results: Conditional targeting of Fbxo45 in GCB-cells in transgenic mice resulted in abnormal germinal center formation with increased number and size of germinal centers. Strikingly, targeted deletion of Fbxo45 in GCB-cells resulted in spontaneous B cell lymphomas with (22/22);100%) penetrance and none of the wild-type (WT) littermates (0/20; 0%) developed lymphoma at 24 months. Macroscopic examination revealed large tumor masses, splenomegaly, and lymphadenopathy at different anatomic locations including ileocecal junction, mesenteric, retroperitoneal and cervical lymph nodes and thymus. Next generation sequencing of immunoglobulin heavy chain genes revealed monoclonal or oligoclonal B cell populations. Using proteomic analysis of affinity-purified FBXO45-immunocomplexes and differential whole proteome analysis from GCB-cells of Fbxo45 wt/wt vs Fbxo45 fl/fl mice, we discovered that FBXO45 targets the RHO guanine exchange factor GEF-H1 for ubiquitin-mediated proteasomal degradation. FBXO45 exclusively interacts with GEF H1 among 8 F-box proteins investigated and silencing of FBXO45 using three independent shRNA and CRISPR-Cas9-mediated knockouts in B-cell lymphoma cell lines promotes RHOA and MAPK activation, B cell growth and enhances proliferation. GEF-H1 is stabilized by FBXO45 depletion and GEF-H1 ubiquitination by FBXO45 requires phosphorylation of GEF-H1. Importantly, FBXO45 depletion and expression of a GEF-H1 mutant that is unable to bind FBXO45 results in GEF-H1 stabilization, promotes hyperactivated RHO and MAPK signaling and B-cell oncogenicity in vitro and in vivo. Notably, this phenotype is reverted by co-silencing of GEF-H1. Inducible ectopic expression of FBXO45 triggers accelerated turnover of GEF H1 and decreased RHOA signaling. Genomic analyses revealed recurrent loss targeting FBXO45 in transformed DLBCL (25%), de novo DLBCL (6.6%) and FL (2.3%). In keeping with our observation of prolonged hyperactivation of pERK1/2 consequent to FBXO45 ablation, in vitro and in vivo studies using B-cell lymphoma cell lines and xenografts demonstrated increased sensitivity to pharmacologic blockade with the MAP2K1/2 (ERK1/2) inhibitor Trametinib. Conclusions: Our findings define a novel FBXO45-GEF-H1-MAPK signalling axis, which plays an important role in DLBCL pathogenesis. Our studies carry implications for potential exploitation of this pathway for targeted therapies. Disclosures Siebert: AstraZeneca: Speakers Bureau. Lim: EUSA Pharma: Honoraria.

Blood ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 116 (21) ◽  
pp. 3941-3941
Author(s):  
David M Goldenberg ◽  
Serengulam Govindan ◽  
Tom M Cardillo ◽  
Robert M Sharkey

Abstract Abstract 3941 Background: Monoclonal antibody (MAb) therapy has had a significant impact on the management of B-cell malignancies, but is most often used in combination with chemotherapy. We developed an ADC that combines SN-38, the active component of irinotecan, a topoisomerase I inhibitor, with the internalizing, humanized, anti-CD22 IgG, epratuzumab, and determined its activity alone and in combination with an anti-CD20 antibody therapy (veltuzumab). Methods: Epratuzumab was conjugated with SN-38 (E-SN-38) at a mole ratio of ∼6:1. The conjugate is designed specifically to be released slowly in the presence of serum (50% released over ∼1.5 days), allowing liberation of the drug when internalized, but also being released locally after being bound to the tumor. In vitro and in vivo studies were performed to assess the activity of the conjugate against several subcutaneously- or intravenously-inoculated B-cell lymphoma cell lines. In vivo studies also examined combination therapy using E-SN-38 and the veltuzumab (V). Results: In vitro studies in 4 B-cell lymphoma cells lines (Daudi, Raji, Ramos, WSU-FSCCL) and 4 acute lymphoblastic lymphoma cell lines (697, REH, MN-60, and RS4;11) expressing varying amounts of CD22 showed an IC50 for E-SN-38 in the nanomolar range, confirming potent activity. Nude mice bearing SC Ramos human lymphoma had significant selective anti-tumor activity compared to a control, non-targeting, IgG-SN-38 conjugate, at a dosing regimen of 75 to 250 μg of the conjugates given twice-weekly for 4 weeks. Significant anti-tumor activity was also found in several other cell lines. When combined with veltuzumab, significant improvement in therapeutic activity was observed. For example, median survival in a WSU-FSCCL human follicular B-cell lymphoma IV model with treatment initiated 5 days after implantation was 42 d (0/10 surviving at 160 d) and 91 d (2/10 surviving) for untreated and veltuzumab-treated animals, respectively; 63d (0/10 surviving after 160 d) and >160 d (with 6/10 surviving) for E-SN-38 and E-SN-38 + V, respectively; and 63 d (0/10) and 91 d (2/10) for non-targeting IgG-SN-38 conjugate alone and combined with V). The E-SN-38 conjugate combined with V was significantly better than all treatment or control groups (P ≤ 0.05). Conclusion: E-SN-38 ADC is a potent therapeutic, even at non-toxic dose levels, and shows significantly enhanced efficacy when combined with anti-CD20 immunotherapy, representing an important new ADC treatment regimen. Disclosures: Goldenberg: Immunomedics, Inc.: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Patents & Royalties. Govindan:Immunomedics, Inc.: Employment. Cardillo:Immunomedics, Inc.: Employment.


Blood ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 128 (22) ◽  
pp. 468-468
Author(s):  
Hong Qin ◽  
Guowei Wei ◽  
Ippei Sakamaki ◽  
Zhenyuan Dong ◽  
Diane Lynne Smith ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Targeted monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) such as the anti-CD20 rituximab, are proven therapies in lymphoma, yet these diseases remain incurable because of primary or acquired resistance. Using a eukaryotic expression system to produce antigen closely representing endogenous protein, we developed a new therapeutic antibody against an alternative lymphoma target. B cell activating factor receptor (BAFF-R/TNFRSF13C) is a tumor-necrosis factor receptor superfamily member specifically involved in B lymphocyte development and mature B cell survival. Although earlier attempts to target the BAFF/BAFF-R axis therapeutically for B cell tumors yielded limited success, BAFF-R remains an attractive target for B cell lymphoma therapeutic antibody development, particularly for rituximab-resistant tumors. Methods and Results: We generated 2 mAbs to human BAFF-R expressed as a natively folded, eukaryotically glycosylated cell-surface immunogen on engineered mouse fibroblast (L) cells. Both mAbs specifically bound BAFF-R-expressing L cells, but not the parental counterparts. Each of the complementarity determining regions (CDRs) of the 2 mAbs are unique, suggesting different binding epitopes. Both mAbs bound with high affinity to the human B cell lymphoma cell lines JeKo-1 (mantle cell lymphoma; MCL), SU-DHL6 (diffuse large B cell lymphoma; DLBCL), Raji (Burkitt's lymphoma) and RL (follicular lymphoma). Because our goal is to develop antibodies for clinical use, we substituted in human IgG1 Fc to generate the chimeric mAbs C55 and C90. The chimeric mAbs retained the binding specificity and affinity of the mouse antibodies to their target cells. By immunohistochemistry C55 and C90 staining was specific to the B cell-containing organs tonsil and spleen. No detectable staining was observed in heart, lung, brain, liver, and kidney. Using primary human natural killer (NK) cells as effectors, we demonstrated the chimeric antibodies induced potent antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) against BAFF-R-expressing L cells and the JeKo-1, SU-DHL6, Raji and RL human lymphoma cell lines. C55 and C90 were also able to elicit ADCC in primary human lymphomas; they efficiently killed tumor cells from patients with MCL, DLBCL, follicular lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) (n=8). Notably, 5 of these primary lymphomas were from patients who had relapsed after rituximab treatment (2 MCL, 3 CLL). We next determined the activity of C55 and C90 in models of drug-resistant lymphoma. Both ibrutinib and rituximab are effective anti-lymphoma agents, however, primary or acquired resistance to these drugs is common. We derived a rituximab-resistant JeKo-1 variant (JeKo-1 CD20KO) using the CRISPR/HDR system to knock-out CD20 gene expression, and also used the naturally ibrutinib-resistant (Z-138) lymphoma cell line. We confirmed that the C55 and C90 anti-BAFF-R antibodies induced ADCC in both drug-resistant cell lines in vitro. Using xenogenic tumor models in NOD scid gamma (NSG) mice we observed remarkable in vivo anti-tumor effects of both the C55 and C90 chimeric antibodies. We found our antibodies significantly inhibited growth of implanted Z-138 and JeKo-1 CD20KO lymphomas (P<0.001; Figure). Conclusion: In contrast to previously reported BAFF-R antibodies, our in vitro and in vivo results strongly support the translational development of our novel BAFF-R-specific monoclonal antibodies, especially as an alternative immunotherapy against ribuximab- or ibrunitib-resisitant B cell maglinancies. Other preliminary data also suggest BAFF-R may be an effective target of CAR T cells. Figure Figure. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 1043-1052
Author(s):  
Marie-Sophie Dheur ◽  
Hélène A. Poirel ◽  
Geneviève Ameye ◽  
Gaëlle Tilman ◽  
Pascale Saussoy ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (34) ◽  
pp. 16981-16986 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio Scuoppo ◽  
Jiguang Wang ◽  
Mirjana Persaud ◽  
Sandeep K. Mittan ◽  
Katia Basso ◽  
...  

To repurpose compounds for diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL), we screened a library of drugs and other targeted compounds approved by the US Food and Drug Administration on 9 cell lines and validated the results on a panel of 32 genetically characterized DLBCL cell lines. Dasatinib, a multikinase inhibitor, was effective against 50% of DLBCL cell lines, as well as against in vivo xenografts. Dasatinib was more broadly active than the Bruton kinase inhibitor ibrutinib and overcame ibrutinib resistance. Tumors exhibiting dasatinib resistance were commonly characterized by activation of the PI3K pathway and loss of PTEN expression as a specific biomarker. PI3K suppression by mTORC2 inhibition synergized with dasatinib and abolished resistance in vitro and in vivo. These results provide a proof of concept for the repurposing approach in DLBCL, and point to dasatinib as an attractive strategy for further clinical development in lymphomas.


2003 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 2134-2146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicky M.-H. Sung ◽  
Shigetaka Shimodaira ◽  
Alison L. Doughty ◽  
Gaston R. Picchio ◽  
Huong Can ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Studies of HCV replication and pathogenesis have so far been hampered by the lack of an efficient tissue culture system for propagating HCV in vitro. Although HCV is primarily a hepatotropic virus, an increasing body of evidence suggests that HCV also replicates in extrahepatic tissues in natural infection. In this study, we established a B-cell line (SB) from an HCV-infected non-Hodgkin's B-cell lymphoma. HCV RNA and proteins were detectable by RNase protection assay and immunoblotting. The cell line continuously produces infectious HCV virions in culture. The virus particles produced from the culture had a buoyant density of 1.13 to 1.15 g/ml in sucrose and could infect primary human hepatocytes, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), and an established B-cell line (Raji cells) in vitro. The virus from SB cells belongs to genotype 2b. Single-stranded conformational polymorphism and sequence analysis of the viral RNA quasispecies indicated that the virus present in SB cells most likely originated from the patient's spleen and had an HCV RNA quasispecies pattern distinct from that in the serum. The virus production from the infected primary hepatocytes showed cyclic variations. In addition, we have succeeded in establishing several Epstein-Barr virus-immortalized B-cell lines from PBMCs of HCV-positive patients. Two of these cell lines are positive for HCV RNA as detected by reverse transcriptase PCR and for the nonstructural protein NS3 by immunofluorescence staining. These observations unequivocally establish that HCV infects B cells in vivo and in vitro. HCV-infected cell lines show significantly enhanced apoptosis. These B-cell lines provide a reproducible cell culture system for studying the complete replication cycle and biology of HCV infections.


Blood ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 116 (21) ◽  
pp. 5023-5023
Author(s):  
Susana Hernández-García ◽  
Mercè de Frias ◽  
Clara Campàs ◽  
Bruno Paiva ◽  
Enrique M. Ocio ◽  
...  

Abstract Abstract 5023 Multiple myeloma (MM) is a malignancy characterized by the accumulation of plasma cells. The disease represents the second most common hematologic malignancy and remains incurable, despite recent advances in its treatment. Therefore, studies to develop new therapies are still necessary, particularly in patients with bad prognostic factors, such as 17p deleted/p53 mutated patients. In this study we describe the preclinical activity of 5-Aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-1–4-ribofuranoside (AICAR or acadesine) in multiple myeloma. Acadesine is an analog of AMP that is widely used as an activator of AMP-kinase (AMPK), a protein that regulates the responses of the cell to energy changes. Acadesine induces apoptosis in different cell types including CLL, mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and splenic marginal zone B-cell lymphoma (SMZL) cells and tumor cell lines, without affecting primary T lymphocytes. Thus, acadesine is a promising drug for the treatment of B-cell neoplasms. A clinical phase I/II study of acadesine is currently being performed in CLL patients. We studied the effects of acadesine on the MTT metabolization of several multiple myeloma cell lines (MM1S, MM1R, RPMI-8266, RPMI-LR5, U266, U266-LR7, U266 Dox4, MM144, MGG, SJR, OPM-2, NCIH-929). Acadesine inhibited MM cell growth and induced apoptosis, with IC50 values in the micromolar range, and independently of the p53 mutational status. Cancer treatment, including myeloma, is generally based on combinations of drugs with different mechanisms of action. Thus, we studied the effect of acadesine in double combinations with drugs used in myeloma therapy, such as dexamethasone, melphalan, doxorubicin, bortezomib, and lenalidomide. Analyses of these data using the Chou and Talalay method indicated that acadesine was synergistic with dexamethasone (CI values of 0.60), and particularly with lenalidomide (CI values of 0.42). These promising results with double combinations promoted the investigation of triple combinations in the MM1S cell line. Triple combination of acadesine plus dexamethasone plus lenalidomide or bortezomib notably improved the efficacy of the respective double combinations, being the combination of acadesine plus lenalidomide plus dexamethasone especially efficient. Further studies to determinate the mechanism of action, and in vivo studies in MM1S xenograph are ongoing. Disclosures: de Frias: Advancell: Employment. Campàs:Advancell: Employment.


Blood ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 120 (21) ◽  
pp. 2417-2417
Author(s):  
Olga Ritz ◽  
Jochen K Lennerz ◽  
Karolin Rommel ◽  
Karola Dorsch ◽  
Elena Kelsch ◽  
...  

Abstract Abstract 2417 Primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma (PMBL) is a subtype of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) that affects predominantly young women (Swerdlow et al. 2008). Despite improvements due to addition of rituximab, which has become state of the art treatment, 20% of PMBL patients succumb to disease progression or relapse. Notably, here are currently no registered trials that are actively recruiting PMBL-patients and a better understanding of the underlying pathobiology may identify novel therapeutic targets and provide an alternative to dose escalation (Steidl and Gascoyne 2011). BCL6 is a key germinal center B-cell transcription factor that suppresses genes involved in lymphocyte activation, differentiation, cell cycle arrest and DNA damage response gene. BCL6 is aberrantly expressed in certain DLBCL subgroups and BCL6 overexpression is sufficient for lymphomagenesis in mice (Cattoretti et al. 2005). In cellular- and murine DLBCL models, targeting of BCL6 via retroinverted BCL6 peptid inhibitor (RI-BPI) appears effective (Polo et al. 2004; Cerchietti et al. 2010). In conjunction with the relatively restricted expression pattern of BCL6, these data collectively suggest BCL6 as a candidate for targeted therapy in BCL6-positive lymphomas. Despite substantial work on BCL6 in lymphomas, the function of BCL6 in PMBL is unknown. To address the BCL6 function in PMBL, we performed BCL6 depletion by siRNA in all three available PMBL cell lines: K1106, U-2940 and MedB-1. We found that BCL6 acts pro-proliferative and anti-apoptotic; however, PMBL models were only partially dependent on and not addicted to BCL6. Given that BCL6 expression in all PMBL cell lines is variable with a notable fraction of BCL6-negative cells, we argued that increasing the fraction of BCL6-positive cells might increase the level of BCL6-dependence. Since IL-4/STAT6 signaling upregulates BCL6 in mouse lymphocytes (Schroder et al. 2002), we treated PMBL cell lines with IL-4 (or IL-13) and, as expected, observed increased phosphorylated (p)STAT6 levels. Surprisingly, the pSTAT6 increase was not associated with higher – but with drastically lower BCL6 protein levels. Moreover, in untreated cells, co-localization studies for pSTAT6- and BCL6 demonstrated staining in mutually exclusive subsets of cells (Figure 1A), suggesting negative interaction between BCL6 and pSTAT6. Other STAT family members were already shown to participate in the transcriptional regulation of BCL6. Thus, we examined binding of STAT6 to the proximal promoter of BCL6 in all PMBL cell lines using shift assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation. We found that STAT6 can bind all five GAS binding sites within the BCL6 promoter in vitro and in all PMBL cell lines STAT6 was bound to proximal BCL6 promoter in vivo. Furthermore, transient STAT6 depletion by siRNA and/or ectopic expression of constitutively active STAT6 confirms that pSTAT6 is sufficient for transcriptional repression of BCL6. Co-localization studies in primary patient samples demonstrated mutually exclusive BCL6/pSTAT6 distribution as a visual hallmark of the repression mechanism (Figure 1B, C). Thus, our data demonstrate for the first time that constitutively active STAT6 transcriptionally represses BCL6 in PMBL. In conjunction with functional data, the delineated repression mechanism may prevent addiction to one single oncogenic pathway (i.e. BCL6) in PMBL. Figure 1. Mutually exclusive distribution of BCL6 and pSTAT6 in PMBL Figure 1. Mutually exclusive distribution of BCL6 and pSTAT6 in PMBL Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Blood ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 122 (21) ◽  
pp. 3010-3010
Author(s):  
Raphael Koch ◽  
Martin Demant ◽  
Thiha Aung ◽  
Annemarie Guentsch ◽  
Nina Diering ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction Patients with aggressive B-cell lymphoma are treated in curative intention. However, some patients experience fatal relapse, originating from refractory lymphoma cells with the capacity for clonogenic regrowth. We here addressed repopulation capacity of lymphoma cell subpopulations and the mechanisms regulating the populational composition in the growing tumor. Material & Methods We identified side population (SP) cells in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma cell lines and patient samples with the DNA-binding dye Hoechst33342, analyzed clonogenicity in vitro and in vivo and screened for differentially expressed genes and DNA-methylation patterns. A GFP-containing lentiviral vector construct was used to keep track of side population cells cultured among mixed cultures of SP and nonSP cells. Manipulation of canonical wnt-signaling was performed by lentiviral sh-RNA constructs as well as pharmacological tankyrase-inhibition by XAV-939. In vitro data were supported by in vivo experiments using a chorioallantoic membrane-assay. Results Colony assays and suspension cultures of sorted SP and nonSP cells revealed restriction of clonogenic potential to the SP cell population as well as resurgence of nonSP cells from purified SP cell progenitors, while mixed culture assays using a GFP-vector construct tracing the SP vs. nonSP-population revealed homeostasis between the two populations, showing both SP and nonSP cells contributing to either cell compartment. SP cells show enhanced canonical wnt-signaling and increased exosomal secretion of wnt3a. Suppression of canonical wnt-signaling resulted in reduced clonogenicity. Exosome stimulation of DLBCL cell lines resulted in increased clonogenicity, stabilization of beta catenin and enhanced TOP/FOP activity. Conclusion Here we show that tumor cells reversibly switch between states of autonomous and non-autonomous clonogenicity, and that such transitions are regulated by exosome-mediated wnt signaling. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Author(s):  
Chiara Pighi ◽  
Taek-Chin Cheong ◽  
Mara Compagno ◽  
Enrico Patrucco ◽  
Maddalena Arigoni ◽  
...  

The expression of BCL6 in B cell lymphoma can be deregulated by chromosomal translocations, somatic mutations in the promoter regulatory regions or reduced proteasome-mediated degradation. FBXO11 was recently identified as a ubiquitin ligase involved in the degradation of BCL6 and is frequently inactivated in lymphoma or other tumors. Here, we show that FBXO11 mutations are found in 23% of Burkitt lymphoma (BL) patients. FBXO11 mutations impaired BCL6 degradation and the deletion of FBXO11 protein completely stabilized BCL6 levels in human BL cell lines. Conditional deletion of either one or two copies of the FBXO11 gene in mice cooperated with oncogenic MYC and accelerated B cell lymphoma onset, providing experimental evidence that FBXO11 is a haplo-insufficient oncosuppressor in B cell lymphoma. In WT and FBXO11-deficient BL mouse and human cell lines, targeting BCL6 via specific degrader or inhibitors partially impaired lymphoma growth in vitro and in vivo. Inhibition of MYC by the Omomyc mini-protein blocked cell proliferation and increased apoptosis, effects further increased by combined BCL6 targeting. Thus, by validating the functional role of FBXO11 mutations in BL we further highlight the key role of BCL6 in BL biology and provide evidence that innovative therapeutic approaches such as BCL6 degraders and direct MYC inhibition could be exploited as a targeted therapy for BL.


Blood ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 132 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 1574-1574
Author(s):  
Hiroto Horiguchi ◽  
Marioara Felicia Ciuculescu ◽  
Anja Troeger ◽  
Haiming Xu ◽  
Christian Brendel ◽  
...  

Abstract RHOH encodes a GTPase-deficient, hematopoietic-specific small GTPase first identified as a hypermutable gene in DLBCL (Pasqualucci et al. 2001). RhoH is critical for T cell receptor signaling and Rhoh-deficient (RhohKO) mice have T cell lymphopenia (Gu et al., 2006) and loss of function mutations of RHOH are associated with Epidermodysplasia Verruciformis (Crequer et al., 2012). However, the role of RhoH in the biology of DLBCL is still unknown and its role in B lymphoid development is incompletely studied. We investigated the role of RhoH in normal germinal center formation and in a murine model of DLBCL by crossing RhohKO mice with Iµ-HABcl-6 transgenic (Bcl-6Tg) mice (Cattoretti G, et al., 2005). In young RhohKOmice, deficient development of CXCR5+ follicular T helper (Tfh) cells results in defective germinal center (GC) formation and impaired immunoglobulin switching in vivo. In spite of this defect in GC formation, RhohKO; Bcl-6Tg (KOTg) mouse demonstrated accelerated lymphoma progression associated with larger spleens and significantly earlier death (Log-rank test p<0.01, Figure 1). Immunohistochemistry data suggested increased expression of IRF-4 and enhanced expression of BCL-6 in KOTg mice, findings confirmed by immunoblot and consistent with an activated B-cell (ABC)-DLBCL phenotype. To analyze the mechanism underlying these results, B cell lymphoma cell lines from KOTg lymphoma mice were established. Multiple attempts to establish RhohWT lymphoma cell lines failed, although we also successfully established a lymphoma cell line from RhohKO; Bcl-6(ntg) (KONtg) mice. Re-expression of RhoH in these lines via retrovirus mediated gene transfer led to significantly decreased proliferation (5.9x106±9.6x105 cells vs 8.6x106±9.6x105 cells after 5-days culture; KOTg vs KOTg-RhoH, mean±SEM, p<0.05) that was associated with clear reduction in BCL-6 expression. These data suggest that BCL-6 is a direct or an indirect transcriptional target of RhoH. Our laboratory previously reported that KAISO, a dual-specific, Broad complex, Trantrak, Bric-a-brac/Pox virus, Zinc finger (POZ-ZF) transcription factor interacts and colocalizes with RhoH in the nucleus, whereas knockdown of RhoH inhibits the nuclear localization of KAISO in Jurkat cells (Mino A, et al., 2016). In addition, Kaiso has been shown to be a key regulator of spleen germinal center formation by repressing Bcl-6 expression in splenocytes (Koh D, et al., 2013). We hypothesized that the deletion of Rhoh may lead to the decreased nuclear localization of KAISO and result in increased the expression of Bcl-6. We first confirmed that RhoH bound KAISO in RhoH-transduced KO lymphoma cells by co-immunoprecipitation. Further immunoblot analysis and quantitative PCR (qPCR) demonstrated decreased BCL-6 expression in lymphoma cells in which RhoH was re-expressed (KOTg-RhoH and KONtg-RhoH) compared with empty vector-transduced lymphoma cell lines. Interestingly, p53 a BCL-6 target was increased in RhoH-transduced lymphoma cell lines. These data indicate that RhoH affects BCL-6 expression in B cell lymphoma cell lines and suggest that RhoH may be involved in DLBCL development by co-regulating BCL-6 expression affecting downstream targets via interaction with KAISO. Figure. Figure. Disclosures Williams: Bluebird Bio: Research Funding.


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