Project description:BACKGROUND: BCR-ABL1+ chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is characterized by abnormal production of leukemic stem (LSC) and progenitor cells and their spread from the bone marrow into the blood resulting in extramedullary myeloproliferation. So far, little is known about specific markers and functions of LSC in CML. METHODS: We examined the phenotype and function of CD34+/CD38─/Lin─ CML LSC by a multi-parameter screen approach employing antibody-phenotyping, mRNA expression profiling, and functional studies, including LSC repopulation experiments in irradiated NOD-SCID-IL-2Rgamma-/- (NSG) mice, followed by marker-validation using diverse control-cohorts and follow-up samples of CML patients treated with imatinib. RESULTS: Of all LSC markers examined, dipeptidylpeptidase IV (DPPIV=CD26) was identified as specific and functionally relevant surface marker-enzyme on CD34+/CD38─ CML LSC. CD26 was not detected on normal CD34+/CD38─ stem cells or LSC in other hematopoietic malignancies. The percentage of CD26+ CML LSC decreased to undetectable levels during successful treatment with imatinib in all patients (p<0.001). Whereas the sorted CD26─ stem cells obtained from CML patients engrafted irradiated NSG mice with multilineage BCR-ABL1-negative hematopoiesis, CD26+ LSC engrafted NSG mice with BCR-ABL1+ cells. Functionally, CD26 was identified as target-enzyme disrupting the SDF-1alpha-CXCR4-axis by cleaving SDF-1alpha a chemotaxin for CXCR4+ stem cells. Whereas CD26 was found to inhibit SDF-1alpha-induced migration, CD26-targeting gliptins reverted this effect and blocked the mobilization of CML LSC in a stroma co-culture assay. CONCLUSIONS: CD26 is a robust biomarker of LSC and a useful tool for their quantification and isolation in patients with BCR/ABL1+ CML. Moreover, CD26 expression may explain the extramedullary spread of LSC in CML. To define specific mRNA expression patterns and to identify specific LSC markers in CML LSC, gene array analyses were performed. RNA was isolated from sorted CD34+/CD45+/CD38─ CML LSC, CD34+/CD45+/CD38+ CML progenitor cells, CML MNC, sorted CD34+/CD38─ cord blood (CB) SC, CB-derived CD34+/CD38+ progenitor cells, and CB MNC. Total RNA was extracted from sorted cells using RNeasy Micro-Kit (Qiagen) and used (100 ng total RNA) for Gene Chip analyses. Preparation of terminal-labeled cRNA, hybridization to genome-wide human PrimeView GeneChips (Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA, USA) and scanning of arrays were carried out according to the manufacturer's protocols (https://www.affymetrix.com). Robust Multichip Average (RMA) signal extraction and normalization were performed according to http://www.bioconductor.org/ as described.18 Differences in mRNA expression levels (from multiple paired samples) were calculated as mRNA ratio of i) CML LSC versus CB SC, ii) CML LSC versus CD34+/CD38+ CML progenitors, and normal cord blood SC versus cord blood progenitors. To calculate differential gene expression between individual sample groups where appropriate, we performed a statistical comparison using the LIMMA package as described previously. Briefly, LIMMA estimates the fold change between predefined sample groups by fitting a linear model and using an empirical Bayes method to moderate the standard errors of the estimated log-fold changes for each probe set.

Project description:Comparison of gene expression profiles of CD34+ hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells from bone marrow of patients with untreated chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) in chronic phase with those from bone marrow of healthy volunteers. Chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML) is a malignant disorder of the hematopoietic stem cell, which is characterized by the reciprocal translocation between chromosomes 9 and 22 (t(9;22)(q34;q11)) The translocation results in the formation of the BCR-ABL fusion oncogene encoding a protein with constitutive activated tyrosine kinase activity which plays a central role in the pathogenesis of the disease. There are still several open questions with respect to BCR-ABL-induced malignant transformation. A large limitation of the existing data about BCR-ABL effects is that they are derived to a great proportion from human hematopoietic cell lines, BCR-ABL-transformed murine cell lines or fibroblasts and mouse models, which might not be representative for chronic phase CML. A suitable cell population for studies on CML biology are primary hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells from patients with CML. Therefore, we provide in this study a genome-wide expression signature of highly enriched CD34+ cells from bone marrow (BM) of untreated patients with CML in chronic phase. Gene expression profiles of immunomagnetically enriched BM CML CD34+ cells (n=9) were compared with those of normal BM CD34+ cells (n=8) using microarrays covering 8.746 genes. Total RNA was extracted, reversely transcribed, in vitro transcribed and labelled and hybridized to Affymetrix HG Focus Arrays. Following quality control and normalization differentially expressed genes were identified by significance analysis of microarrays (SAM). Comparing both groups 918 genes were significantly differentially expressed (q value <0.1%; fold change > 1.3). Several of the BCR-ABL-induced effects described in cell lines and BCR-ABL-transduced cells could also be found in primary CML progenitor cells as for example the transcriptional activation of the classical MAPK pathway and the PI3 kinase/AKT pathway and the down-regulation of the pro-apoptotic gene IRF8. Moreover, novel transcriptional changes in comparison with normal CD34+ cells were identified. These include an up-regulation of components of the TGFb signalling pathway and the non-canonical Wnt/Ca2+ pathway, a transcriptional activation of fetal haemoglobin genes and genes associated with early hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) such as HoxA9 and MEIS1 and up-regulation of genes involved in fatty acid metabolism, of the thrombin receptor PAR1 and the neuroepithelial cell transforming gene 1. Differential expression of differentiation-associated genes suggested an alteration of the composition of the CD34+ cell population in CML. This was confirmed by immunophenotypical subset analyses of chronic phase CML CD34+ cells showing an increase of erythroid progenitors and a decrease of granulocyte-macrophage progenitor cells while the proportion of HSC was similar in normal and CML CD34+ cells. In conclusion, our results give novel insights into the biology of CML hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells and could be the basis for identification of new targets for therapy.

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P50_P681_P763_PTC209_DMSO_24h_48h_72h_Illumina HT12v4_Gene_Expression.xlsx

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