ABSTRACT
Nucleostemin [NS], a stem cell-abundant nucleolar protein, is critical for maintaining the self-renewal and proliferative properties of normal and cancerous stem cells. Recent data suggests that NS signaling is important for proliferation of T-cells and leukemia cells. This study was conducted to verify the role of NS in pathogenesis and treatment of T-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia [T-ALL]. Our results revealed that RNA interference-mediated NS silencing primarily affected clonogenicproperty of T-ALL cells by limiting their self-renewal potential in vitro.These effects were accompanied with inhibition of proliferation and early apoptosis in Jurkat cells [p53-null] while late apoptosis in Molt-4 [p53 functional] T-ALL cells. Collectively, our results suggest that NS is a critical regulator in self-renewal and apoptosis of different T-ALL cells. This suggests therapeutic potential of this gene in leukemia