Dipeptide species regulate p38MAPK-Smad3 signalling to maintain chronic myelogenous leukaemia stem cells.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the specific survival of the rare chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML) stem cell population could provide a target for therapeutics aimed at eradicating these cells. However, little is known about how survival signalling is regulated in CML stem cells. In this study, we survey global metabolic differences between murine normal haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and CML stem cells using metabolomics techniques. Strikingly, we show that CML stem cells accumulate significantly higher levels of certain dipeptide species than normal HSCs. Once internalized, these dipeptide species activate amino-acid signalling via a pathway involving p38MAPK and the stemness transcription factor Smad3, which promotes CML stem cell maintenance. Importantly, pharmacological inhibition of dipeptide upt

SUBMITTER: Naka K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4560789 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature