Dietary γ-mangostin triggers immunogenic cell death and activates cGAS signaling in acute myeloid leukemia.

Immunogenic cell death (ICD), one of cell-death types through release of damage-associated molecular patterns from dying tumor cells, activates tumor-specific immune response and elicits anti-tumor immunity by traditional radiotherapy and chemotherapy. However, whether natural products could induce ICD in leukemia is not elucidated. Here, we report dietary γ-mangostin eradicates murine primary leukemic cells and prolongs the survival of leukemic mice. As well, it restrains primary leukemic cells and CD34+ leukemic progenitor cells from leukemia patients. Strikingly, γ-mangostin attenuates leukemic cells by inducing ICD as characterized by expression of HSP90B1, ANXA1 and IL1B. Additionally, γ-mangostin accelerates cytoplasmic chromatin fragments generation, promoting DNA damage response, and enhances cGAS activation, leading to up-regulation of chemokines. Meanwhile, it induces HDAC4 degradation and acetylated histone H3 accumulation, which promotes chemokines transcription. Ultimately, CD8+ T cell is activated and recruited by γ-mangostin-induced chemokines in the microenvironment. Our study identifies γ-mangostin triggers ICD and activates cGAS signaling through DNA damage response and epigenetic modification. Therefore, dietary γ-mangostin would act as a potential agent to provoke anti-tumor immunity in the prevention and treatment of leukemia.

Disruption of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation by chidamide eradicates leukemic cells in AML.

PURPOSE: Nowadays, the oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) correlated with leukemogenesis and treatment response is extensive. Thus, exploration of novel approaches in disrupting OXPHOS in AML is urgently needed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Bioinformatical analysis of TCGA AML dataset was performed to identify the molecular signaling of OXPHOS. The OXPHOS level was measured through a Seahorse XFe96 cell metabolic analyzer. Flow cytometry was applied to measure mitochondrial status. Real-time qPCR and western blot were used to analyze the expression of mitochondrial or inflammatory factors. MLL-AF9-induced leukemic mice were conducted to measure the anti-leukemia effect of chidamide. RESULTS: Here, we reported that AML patients with high OXPHOS level were in a poor prognosis, which was associated with high expression of HDAC1/3 (TCGA). Inhibition of HDAC1/3 by chidamide inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptotic cell death in AML cells. Intriguingly, chidamide could disrupt mitochondrial OXPHOS as assessed by inducing mitochondrial superoxide and reducing oxygen consumption rate, as well as decreasing mitochondrial ATP production. We also observed that chidamide augmented HK1 expression, while glycolysis inhibitor 2-DG could reduce the elevation of HK1 and improve the sensitivity of AML cells exposed to chidamide. Furthermore, HDAC3 was correlated with hyperinflammatory status, while chidamide could downregulate the inflammatory signaling in AML. Notably, chidamide eradicated leukemic cells in vivo and prolonged the survival time of MLL-AF9-induced AML mice. CONCLUSION: Chidamide disrupted mitochondrial OXPHOS, promoted cell apoptosis and reduced inflammation in AML cells. These findings exhibited a novel mechanism that targeting OXPHOS would be a novel strategy for AML treatment.

Mutant C/EBPα p30 alleviates immunosuppression of CD8+ T cells by inhibiting autophagy-associated secretion of IL-1ß in AML.

OBJECTIVES: Mutant C/EBPα p30 (mp30), the product of C/EBPα double mutations (DM), lacks transactivation domain 1 and has C-terminal loss-of-function mutation. Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) patients harbouring C/EBPα DM could be classified as a distinct subgroup with favourable prognosis. However, the underlying mechanism remains elusive. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Autophagy regulated by mp30 was detected by western blot and immunofluorescence. Immune infiltration analysis and GSEA were performed to investigate autophagic and inflammatory status of AML patients from the GSE14468 cohort. Flow cytometry was applied to analyse T cell activation. RESULTS: Mp30 inhibited autophagy by suppressing nucleus translocation of NF-κB. Autophagy-associated secretion of IL-1ß was decreased in mp30-overexpressed AML cells. Bioinformatic analysis revealed that inflammatory status was attenuated, while CD8+ T cell infiltration was upregulated in C/EBPα DM AML patients. Consistently, the proportion of CD8+ CD69+ T cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) was upregulated after co-culture with mp30 AML cell conditional culture medium. Knock-out of IL-1ß in AML cells also enhanced CD8+ T cell activation. Accordingly, IL-1ß expression was significantly reduced in the bone marrow (BM) cells of C/EBPα DM AML patients compared to the wildtype, while the CD8+ CD69+ T cell proportion was specifically elevated. CONCLUSIONS: C/EBPα DM alleviates immunosuppression of CD8+ T cells by inhibiting the autophagy-associated secretion of IL-1ß, which elucidated that repression of autophagy-related inflammatory response in AML patients might achieve a favourable clinical benefit.

cGAS/STING cross-talks with cell cycle and potentiates cancer immunotherapy.

The correct duplication and transfer of genetic material to daughter cells is the major event of cell division. Dysfunction of DNA replication or chromosome segregation presents challenges in cancer initiation and development as well as opportunities for cancer treatment. Cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) of the innate immune system detects cytoplasmic DNA and mediates downstream immune responses through the molecule stimulator of interferon genes (STING). However, how cytosolic DNA sensor cGAS participates in guaranteeing accurate cell division and preventing tumorigenesis is still unclear. Recent evidence indicates malfunction of cGAS/STING pathway in cancer progression. Cell cycle-targeted therapy synergizes with immunotherapy via cGAS/STING activation, leading to promising therapeutic benefit. Here, we review the interactions between cell cycle regulation and cGAS/STING signaling, thus enabling us to understand the role of cGAS/STING in cancer initiation, development, and treatment.

A Novel Aurora Kinase Inhibitor Attenuates Leukemic Cell Proliferation Induced by Mesenchymal Stem Cells.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) play an essential role in protecting leukemic cells from chemotherapeutic agents through activating a wide range of adhesion molecules and cytokines. Thus, more attention should be paid to attenuate the protection of leukemic cells by MSCs. By examining the gene expression files of MSCs from healthy donors and AML patients through high-throughput microarrays, we found that interleukin (IL)-6 was an important cytokine secreted by AML MSCs to protect leukemic cells, contributing to disease progression. Strikingly, Aurora A (AURKA) was activated by IL-6, offering a new target to interfere with leukemia. Importantly, a novel AURKA inhibitor, PW21, showed excellent AURKA kinase inhibitory activities and attenuated the interaction of leukemic cells and the microenvironment. PW21 inhibited MSC-induced cell proliferation, colony formation, and migration, and it induced cell apoptosis. Mechanically, PW21 could inhibit IL-6 secreted by MSCs. Moreover, we found that PW21 displayed a strong anti-leukemia effect on non-obese diabetic (NOD)-severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) and murine MLL-AF9 leukemic models. PW21 significantly prolonged the survival of leukemic mice and eliminated the leukemic progenitor cells. AURKA inhibitor PW21 could provide a new approach for treatment of leukemia through blocking the protection by the leukemic microenvironment in clinical application.

Prediction of competing endogenous RNA coexpression network as prognostic markers in AML.

Recently, competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) hypothesis has gained a great interest in the study of molecular biological mechanisms of cancer occurrence and progression. However, studies on leukemia are limited, and there is still a lack of comprehensive analysis of lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA ceRNA regulatory network of AML based on high-throughput sequencing and large-scale sample size. We obtained RNA-Seq data and compared the expression profiles between 407 normal whole blood (GTEx) and 151 bone marrows of AML (TCGA). The similarity between two sets of genes with trait in the network was analyzed by weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA). MiRcode, starBase, miRTarBase, miRDB and TargetScan was used to predict interactions between lncRNAs, miRNAs and target mRNAs. At last, we identified 108 lncRNAs, 10 miRNAs and 8 mRNAs to construct a lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA ceRNA network, which might act as prognostic biomarkers of AML. Among the network, a survival model with 8 target mRNAs (HOXA9+INSR+KRIT1+MYB+SPRY2+UBE2V1+WEE1+ZNF711) was set up by univariate and multivariate cox proportional hazard regression analysis, of which the AUC was 0.831, indicating its sensitivity and specificity in AML prognostic prediction. CeRNA networks could provide further insight into the study on gene regulation and AML prognosis.

Aurora A Kinase Inhibitor AKI603 Induces Cellular Senescence in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Cells Harboring T315I Mutation.

The emergence of resistance to imatinib mediated by mutations in the BCR-ABL has become a major challenge in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Alternative therapeutic strategies to override imatinib-resistant CML are urgently needed. In this study, we investigated the effect of AKI603, a novel small molecule inhibitor of Aurora kinase A (AurA) to overcome resistance mediated by BCR-ABL-T315I mutation. Our results showed that AKI603 exhibited strong anti-proliferative activity in leukemic cells. AKI603 inhibited cell proliferation and colony formation capacities in imatinib-resistant CML cells by inducing cell cycle arrest with polyploidy accumulation. Surprisingly, inhibition of AurA by AKI603 induced leukemia cell senescence in both BCR-ABL wild type and T315I mutation cells. Furthermore, the induction of senescence was associated with enhancing reactive oxygen species (ROS) level. Moreover, the anti-tumor effect of AKI603 was proved in the BALB/c nude mice KBM5-T315I xenograft model. Taken together, our data demonstrate that the small molecule AurA inhibitor AKI603 may be used to overcome drug resistance induced by BCR-ABL-T315I mutation in CML.