Decitabine Enhances Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cell Apoptosis through SH3BGRL Upregulation

Background: SH3-domain-binding glutamic acid-rich protein-like protein (SH3BGRL) is downregulated in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Clinically, DNA demethylating drug decitabine (DAC) combined with traditional chemotherapies reveals better efficacy on AML patients than the conventional chemotherapies alone. Our previous results revealed that human SH3-domain-binding glutamic acid-rich protein-like protein (SH3BGRL) plays a tumor suppressive role in AML but whether there is a connection between DAC and SH3BGRL expression remains elusive. Methods: Here, we tentatively treated AML cell lines U937, MV4, and HL-60 with DAC and Western Blots. RT-PCR was used to detect the expression of SH3BGRL. Cell proliferation and apoptosis were determined using Annexin V/7-AAD staining. Real-time RT-PCR and Western blot were used to determine the expression of SH3BGRL mRNA and protein. Methylation-specific PCR was used to quantify the DNA methylation in AML cell lines.Results: DAC had cytotoxicity in HL-60, MV4, and U937. In U937 cell lines, treatment with DAC showed the up-regulation of caspase, PARP, and SH3BGRL. Upon treatment, up-regulation of SH3BGRL mRNA and protein was dose-dependent and this activity was partially inhibited in endogenous SH3BGRL knockdown cell lines. Results: DAC had cytotoxicity in HL-60, MV4, and U937. In U937 cell lines, treatment with DAC showed the up-regulation of caspase, PARP, and SH3BGRL. Upon treatment, up-regulation of SH3BGRL mRNA and protein was dose-dependent and this activity was partially inhibited in endogenous SH3BGRL knockdown cell lines. Conclusion: Thus, our results demonstrated a possibly cytotoxic role of DAC on AML cells by upregulation of SH3BGRL expression at epigenetic modulation level and the methylation status in the SH3BGRL promoter region could be a supplemental diagnostic marker to the precise administration of DAC to AML patients.

CNS-infecting pathogens Escherichia coli and Cryptococcus neoformans exploit the host Pdlim2 for intracellular traversal and exocytosis in the blood-brain barrier

Microbial penetration of the blood–brain barrier, a prerequisite for development of the central nervous system (CNS) infection, involves microbial invasion, intracellular traversal and exocytosis. Microbial invasion of the blood-brain barrier has been investigated, but the molecular basis for microbial traversal and exit from the blood-brain barrier remains unknown. We performed transcriptome analysis of the human brain microvascular endothelial cell (HBMEC) infected with Escherichia coli and Cryptococcus neoformans , representative bacterial and fungal pathogens common in CNS infection. Among the upregulated targets in response to E. coli and C. neoformans infection, PDLIM2 was knocked down by shRNA in HBMEC for further investigation. We demonstrated that Pdlim2 specifically regulated the microbial traversal and exit from HBMEC by assessing microbial invasion, transcytosis, intracellular multiplication and egression. Additionally, the defective exocytosis of internalized E. coli from the PDLIM2 shRNA knockdown cell was restored by treatment with a calcium ionophore (ionomycin). Moreover, we performed the proximity-dependent biotin labeling with the biotin ligase BioID2 and identified 210 potential Pdlim2-interactors. Among the nine enriched Pdlim2-interactors in response to both E. coli and C. neoformans infection, we selected MPRIP and showed that HBMEC with knockdown of MPRIP mimicked the phenotype of PDLIM2 knockdown cell. These results suggest that the CNS-infecting microbes hijack Pdlim2 and Mprip for intracellular traversal and exocytosis in the blood-brain barrier.

Analysis of Novel Histone Methylase MLL Function for Glucose Metabolism in Mouse Pancreas

Background) Myeloid / Lymphoid or Mixed-lineage leukemia gene (MLL) is translocated to chromosome 11 long arm q23 region (11q23) and the MLL fusion gene expressed as a result of translocation reconstruction plays an important role in MLL-related leukemia development. It has also been reported that MLL and MLL protein play an important role in tumor development as a Menin-binding protein in Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type I (MEN1). More recently, normal MLL protein has been shown to have histone H3 lysine 4-methylation (H3K4-HMT) activity and to be an epigenetic transcriptional regulator. In addition, the function of MLL protein as a histone methylase has been reported in the gene region involved in metabolism regions. Here, we analyzed the involvement of MLL in glucose metabolism in the pancreas using MLL knockout mice. Methods:) Glucose metabolism in MLL knockout mice and the function of MLL in cultured cells were analyzed. Result) Since the homozygotes of MLL knockout mice are embryonic lethal, we analyzed them using Heterozygous mice. MLL heterozygous mice showed significantly weight loss compared to the wild type mice. MLL heterozygous mice showed no difference in food intake compared to wild type mice. IPGTT showed impaired glucose tolerance in MLL heterozygous mice. However, ITT showed no insulin resistance and decreased insulin secretion during glucose loading. In GSIS tests, Islets isolated from heterozygous mice pancreas have been observed to decrease insulin secretion in the response to glucose stimulation. In comprehensive gene analysis using Microarray analysis of mRNA extracted from mice islet, the gene expression changes related insulin secretion and apoptosis have been revealed in MLL heterozygous mice. Histological search showed no decrease in β-cell number, and immunohistological search showed no difference in insulin, glucagon, and TUNEL staining between heterozygous and wild type mice. And also, MLL knockdown was performed in a cultured cell line. Insulin secretion was decreased to glucose stimulation in MLL knockdown cell line same as in MLL knockout mice. In addition, RNA microarrays were performed to these cell lines, several same genes that have confirmed in MLL mouse islets were observed in MLL knockdown cell. In conclusion, MLL knockout mice showed decreased insulin secretion. It was suggested that MLL may be involved in insulin secretion in islets.

Disease modeling of core pre-mRNA splicing factor haploinsufficiency

The craniofacial disorder mandibulofacial dysostosis Guion-Almeida type is caused by haploinsufficiency of the U5 snRNP gene EFTUD2/SNU114. However, it is unclear how reduced expression of this core pre-mRNA splicing factor leads to craniofacial defects. Here we use a CRISPR-Cas9 nickase strategy to generate a human EFTUD2-knockdown cell line and show that reduced expression of EFTUD2 leads to diminished proliferative ability of these cells, increased sensitivity to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and the mis-expression of several genes involved in the ER stress response. RNA-Seq analysis of the EFTUD2-knockdown cell line revealed transcriptome-wide changes in gene expression, with an enrichment for genes associated with processes involved in craniofacial development. Additionally, our RNA-Seq data identified widespread mis-splicing in EFTUD2-knockdown cells. Analysis of the functional and physical characteristics of mis-spliced pre-mRNAs highlighted conserved properties, including length and splice site strengths, of retained introns and skipped exons in our disease model. We also identified enriched processes associated with the affected genes, including cell death, cell and organ morphology and embryonic development. Together, these data support a model in which EFTUD2 haploinsufficiency leads to the mis-splicing of a distinct subset of pre-mRNAs with a widespread effect on gene expression, including altering the expression of ER stress response genes and genes involved in the development of the craniofacial region. The increased burden of unfolded proteins in the ER resulting from mis-splicing would exceed the capacity of the defective ER stress response, inducing apoptosis in cranial neural crest cells that would result in craniofacial abnormalities during development.

KDM2B is a histone H3K79 demethylase and induces transcriptional repression via SIRT1-mediated chromatin silencing

The methylation of histone H3 lysine 79 (H3K79) is an active chromatin marker and is prominant in actively transcribed regions of the genome. However, demethylase of H3K79 remains unknown despite intensive research. Here, we show that KDM2B (also known as FBXL10), a member of the Jumonji C family of proteins and known for its histone H3K36 demethylase activity, is a di- and tri-methyl H3K79 demethylase. We demonstrate that KDM2B induces transcriptional repression of HOXA7 and MEIS1 via occupancy of promoters and demethylation of H3K79. Furthermore, genome-wide analysis suggests that H3K79 methylation levels increase when KDM2B is depleted, indicating that KDM2B functions as an H3K79 demethylase in vivo. Finally, stable KDM2B-knockdown cell lines exhibit displacement of NAD+-dependent deacetylase SIRT1 from chromatin, with concomitant increases in H3K79 methylation and H4K16 acetylation. Our findings identify KDM2B as an H3K79 demethylase and link its function to transcriptional repression via SIRT1-mediated chromatin silencing.

Multi-Leu PACE4 Inhibitor Retention within Cells Is PACE4 Dependent and a Prerequisite for Antiproliferative Activity

The overexpression as well as the critical implication of the proprotein convertase PACE4 in prostate cancer progression has been previously reported and supported the development of peptide inhibitors. The multi-Leu peptide, a PACE4-specific inhibitor, was further generated and its capability to be uptaken by tumor xenograft was demonstrated with regard to its PACE4 expression status. To investigate whether the uptake of this inhibitor was directly dependent of PACE4 levels, uptake and efflux from cancer cells were evaluated and correlations were established with PACE4 contents on both wild type and PACE4-knockdown cell lines. PACE4-knockdown associated growth deficiencies were established on the knockdown HepG2, Huh7, and HT1080 cells as well as the antiproliferative effects of the multi-Leu peptide supporting the growth capabilities of PACE4 in cancer cells.

Abstract 221: MitoROMK Expression Mitigates the Cellular Response to Oxidative Stress

We have recently reported that mitoROMK overexpression protects against, while knockdown of native ROMK exacerbates, oxidative stress-induced cell death and have proposed mitoROMK as the molecular correlate of the cardioprotective mitoKATP channel (Foster, Ho, et al Circ Res 2012). In order to better understand the mechanisms of protection, here we examined how alterations of ROMK expression affect glutathione redox responses during acute oxidative stress, utilizing cytoplasmic or mitochondrially targeted, genetically-encoded GSSG sensors. The tandem protein construct Grx1-roGFP2, a fusion of human glutaredoxin and redox sensitive GFP (Gutscher et al, Nat Methods 2008) was incorporated into adenoviral gene transfer vectors for expression in cardiac-derived H9C2 cells. Cells were subjected to treatment with the Complex III inhibitor Antimycin A (50µM) to induce endogenous mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and changes in the glutathione redox potential were determined ratiometrically. MitoROMK overexpressing cells showed a significantly lower rate of mitochondrial matrix GSH oxidation secondary to H2O2 scavenging compared to both control and ROMK knockdown cell lines, indicating enhanced ability to maintain ROS balance. Increases in cytoplasmic GSSG were also blunted by mitoROMK overexpression. To determine if ROMK expression affected ROS-induced mitochondrial calcium overload, we also employed the mitochondrially-targeted ratiometric Ca2+ probe GEM-GECO (Zhao et al Science 2011). The same Antimycin A challenge led to large mitochondrial Ca2+ increase in control and knockdown cell lines, but this response was significantly suppressed in mitoROMK overexpressing cells. This could not be explained by differences in baseline mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm; determined using the potentiometric probe tetramethylrhodamine methyl ester), because both control cells and ROMK overexpressors showed similar ΔΨm, while ROMK knockdown cells were more depolarized. The results suggest that enhanced cell survival in mitoROMK overexpressing cells is mediated by improved mitochondrial ROS balance and calcium handling, providing a key molecular link between mitochondrial K+ channels and cardioprotection.

BCL-Xl Contributes to Decreased Cellular Respiration During Erythroid Differentiation

Abstract 3201 The BCL2 family of proteins are well known for their ability to both positively and negatively regulate mitochondrial mechanisms of apoptosis. The anti-apoptotic members of this family can decrease mitochondrial outer membrane permeability and cytochrome c release. By stabilizing the cell against apoptosis, these proteins allow cell survival even in states of low energy. However, despite this intimate link between the BCL2 family proteins and mitochondria, their direct effect on metabolism is less clearly understood. It is generally expected that metabolic changes induced by the BCL2 family of proteins will further impact cell survival as murine hepatoma and cancer cells overexpressing Bcl-xL are sensitive to Bcl-xL inhibition1 but BCL-xL is also known to be essential for erythroid differentiation and more recently was linked specifically to heme synthesis2. We therefore set out to investigate whether there was a connection between BCL-xL induced changes in cellular respiration and erythroid differentiation. Murine erythroleukemia (MEL) cells were differentiated by exposure to 2% DMSO for 5 days and then real time oxygen consumption was measured on the Seahorse extracellular flux analyzer (XFA). DMSO induced differentiation yielded a 4-fold decrease in oxygen consumption. Western blot analysis revealed that BCL-xL was induced during differentiation. We then generated cell lines in which BCL-xL was knocked down with small hairpin RNA (shRNA). As differentiation has previously been reported to be fatal in MEL cells without BCL-xL activity, both parental cells and BCL-xL knockdowns were infected with a vector over expressing BCL2. Differentiation over 5 days with 2% DMSO was performed on these new cell lines. Erythroid differentiation was confirmed using Benzidine staining. While the control cell line showed high rates of Benzidine staining after exposure to DMSO, the BCL-xL knockdown cell line consistently showed <5% benzidine positivity. Western blot analysis confirmed the absence of BCL-xL induction by DMSO exposure in the knockdown cell line. Using the Seahorse XFA the control cell line was shown to have significant decrease in oxygen consumption when exposed to DMSO, while DMSO exposed BCL-xL knockdown cells showed less than half this drop in oxygen consumption. However, both control and BCL-xL knockdowns have limited respiratory reserve as the response to CCCP, an uncoupler of electron transport, is diminished after DMSO exposure as compared to their undifferentiated counterparts. Our results suggest that erythroid differentiation is associated with a significant decrease in cellular respiration. Although, not the only contributor to the decreased dependence on oxidative phosphorylation of cells undergoing erythroid differentiation, BCL-xL expression is clearly a necessary factor. Our data is able to connect BCL-xL expression to both erythroid differentiation and this distinct metabolic phenotype. As BCL-xL's role in erythroid differentiation has previously been reported to be associated with heme synthesis, future work will focus on identifying oxidative metabolic pathways associated with BCL-xL expression and heme synthesis. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Linking the Glycolytic Enzyme HK3 to Neutrophil Differentiation of APL Cells Via PU.1

Abstract 2425 Objectives: Identification and characterization of hexokinase 3 (HK3), as novel transcriptional target of the myeloid master regulator PU.1, with a role in APL cell differentiation and survival. Materials: HK3 and PU.1 quantitative RT-PCR in primary AML patient samples (n=170) and granulocytes isolated from healthy donors (n=20). Gene expression profiling in PU.1-knockout and PU.1-restored myeloid cell lines. Generation of NB4 and HT93 PU.1 as well as HK3 knockdown cell lines. ATRA-induced differentiation of these cell lines was assessed by CD11b and CEBPE expression. In vivo binding of PU.1 and PML-RARA to the HK3 promoter was shown by ChIP assays. Viability of NB4 cell lines was assessed by Alamar Blue staining. Results: We identified HK3 as putative transcriptional target of PU.1 by gene expression profiling in PU.1-knockout and PU.1-restored myeloid cell lines. Unlike the other three hexokinase family members (HK1, HK2 and HK4), HK3 expression is limited to hematopoietic cells, where it is mainly expressed in the myeloid lineage. We found 50-times lower HK3 mRNA levels in primary non-APL patients as compared to granulocytes from healthy donors. Most interestingly, we found that HK3 expression in APL patients with the t(15;17) translocation was 400-times lower (p<0.0001) than compared to granulocytes. Given the particularly low HK3 and PU.1 expression in APL patients, we decided to investigate the role of HK3 and its possible regulation by PU.1 during all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA)-induced neutrophil differentiation of NB4 and HT93 APL cell lines. Firstly, we observed a 5500- and 1100-fold increase of HK3 mRNA levels during neutrophil differentiation of NB4 and HT93, respectively. This was paralleled by markedly increased HK3 protein levels. No increased HK3 levels were observed in ATRA-resistant NB4-R2 cell lines. HK1 and HK2 mRNA expression was not markedly increased during neutrophil differentiation pointing to a particular role for HK3 in neutrophil differentiation. Regulation of the liver specific HK4 was not investigated. Next, we observed significantly decreased HK3 expression, both at the mRNA and protein levels, in all PU.1 knockdown cell lines upon ATRA-induced differentiation. In vivo PU.1 binding to three different regions of the HK3 promoter was found. Given our findings in primary APL patients, we decided to test if PML-RARa binds to the HK3 promoter, and indeed, PML-RARA binds to the same promoter regions as PU.1. Knocking down HK3 in APL cell lines resulted in significantly reduced neutrophil differentiation as measured by CD11b and CEBPE expression. Also, we observed that NB4 HK3 knockdown cell lines treated with ATRA were less viable compared to control cells. Conclusions: Our results strongly suggest that HK3 is a novel PU.1 transcriptional target functionally involved in neutrophil differentiation and cell viability of APL cells. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.