RESUMO
TNF-α has pleiotropic effects on cell survival and apoptosis. The E3 ubiquitin ligase TRAF2 plays a crucial role for TNF-α mediated signaling since NF-κB activation by TNF-α is at least partially mediated by TRAF2. The objective of this study was to investigate whether TNF-α can induce apoptosis in FLT3-ITD-positive AML cells and to elucidate the influence of TRAF2. Stable lentiviral mediated down-regulation of TRAF2 resulted in a decrease of phosphorylation of the anti-apoptotic protein AKT and its downstream target GSK-3ß. Induction of apoptosis and impaired proliferation after TNF-α exposure were observed. Co-treatment of FLT3-ITD-positive cells with the specific FLT3 inhibitor AC220 was able to overcome TNF-α resistance. Taken together, we conclude that TRAF2 plays an important role in signal transduction and survival of AML cells.
Assuntos
Resistencia a Medicamentos Antineoplásicos , Leucemia Mieloide Aguda/patologia , NF-kappa B/metabolismo , Fator 2 Associado a Receptor de TNF/metabolismo , Fator de Necrose Tumoral alfa/metabolismo , Tirosina Quinase 3 Semelhante a fms/metabolismo , Apoptose , Western Blotting , Proliferação de Células , Quinase 3 da Glicogênio Sintase/genética , Quinase 3 da Glicogênio Sintase/metabolismo , Glicogênio Sintase Quinase 3 beta , Humanos , Leucemia Mieloide Aguda/genética , Leucemia Mieloide Aguda/metabolismo , NF-kappa B/genética , Fosforilação , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas c-akt/genética , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas c-akt/metabolismo , RNA Mensageiro/genética , RNA Interferente Pequeno/genética , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase em Tempo Real , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase Via Transcriptase Reversa , Transdução de Sinais , Fator 2 Associado a Receptor de TNF/antagonistas & inibidores , Fator 2 Associado a Receptor de TNF/genética , Sequências de Repetição em Tandem , Células Tumorais Cultivadas , Fator de Necrose Tumoral alfa/genética , Tirosina Quinase 3 Semelhante a fms/genéticaRESUMO
PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to investigate the activation of the PI3K/AKT (phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase) pathway after stimulation of TLR-4 (Toll-like receptor 4) with LPS (lipopolysaccharide) in FLT3-ITD (internal tandem duplication)-positive AML (acute myeloid leukemia) cells. TRAF6 (tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 6), an E3 ubiquitin ligase, is critically involved in TLR-signaling. Based on the observation that TRAF6 might play a role in AKT phosphorylation, we hypothesized that TRAF6 can enhance the constitutive FLT3-ITD-driven activation of AKT after LPS stimulation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Human MV4-11 FLT3-ITD cells were silenced for TRAF6 by stable shRNA expression. Western blotting was used to analyze signal transduction by detection of phosphorylated proteins. LPS-induced activation of the NF-κB pathway was ensured by the induction of IκBα expression. To evaluate a potential functional role of TRAF6, we also performed chemosensitivity assays. RESULTS: In MV4-11 cells, AKT was activated in response to LPS treatment. Surprisingly, shRNA-mediated knockdown of TRAF6 resulted in a significant increase in basal AKT phosphorylation. By LPS stimulation, the gain of AKT phosphorylation was more pronounced in the TRAF6 knockdown cell line than in the control. In addition, the concentration-dependent induction of apoptosis in response to treatment with the cytostatic drugs cytarabine or daunorubicin was significantly reduced in TRAF6-depleted MV4-11 cells. CONCLUSION: Our data strongly suggest that the E3 ubiquitin ligase TRAF6 plays an important functional role in signal transduction and survival of AML cells. We hypothesize that LPS-mediated stimulation of TLR-4 leads to the induction of NF-κB-mediated signaling. However, TRAF6 might prevent a synergistic activation of the PI3K/AKT pathway after activation of TLR-4 signaling in FLT3-ITD-positive cells.
Assuntos
Leucemia Mieloide Aguda/patologia , Lipopolissacarídeos/farmacologia , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas c-akt/metabolismo , Fator 6 Associado a Receptor de TNF/metabolismo , Ubiquitina-Proteína Ligases/metabolismo , Tirosina Quinase 3 Semelhante a fms/metabolismo , Apoptose , Western Blotting , Proliferação de Células , Citometria de Fluxo , Humanos , Leucemia Mieloide Aguda/tratamento farmacológico , Leucemia Mieloide Aguda/metabolismo , Proteína de Sequência 1 de Leucemia de Células Mieloides , NF-kappa B/genética , NF-kappa B/metabolismo , Fosfatidilinositol 3-Quinases/genética , Fosfatidilinositol 3-Quinases/metabolismo , Fosforilação , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas c-akt/genética , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas c-bcl-2/genética , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas c-bcl-2/metabolismo , RNA Mensageiro/genética , RNA Interferente Pequeno/genética , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase em Tempo Real , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase Via Transcriptase Reversa , Transdução de Sinais , Fator 6 Associado a Receptor de TNF/antagonistas & inibidores , Fator 6 Associado a Receptor de TNF/genética , Receptor 4 Toll-Like/genética , Receptor 4 Toll-Like/metabolismo , Células Tumorais Cultivadas , Ubiquitina-Proteína Ligases/antagonistas & inibidores , Ubiquitina-Proteína Ligases/genética , Tirosina Quinase 3 Semelhante a fms/genéticaRESUMO
Fms-like tyrosine kinase (FLT3) mutations are the most frequent mutations in patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) that confer a poor prognosis. Constitutively active FLT3-ITD (internal tandem duplications) mutations define a promising target for therapeutic approaches using small molecule inhibitors. However, several point mutations of the FLT3 tyrosine kinase domain (FLT3-TKD) have been identified to mediate resistance towards FLT3 tyrosine kinase inhibitors (FLT3-TKI), including secondary mutations of FLT3. We investigated the cellular effects of the recently characterised FLT3-TKI ponatinib (AP24534) on murine myeloid cells transfected with FLT3-ITD with or without additional point mutations of the FLT3-TKD including the (so far) multi-resistant F691I mutation. Ponatinib effectively induced apoptosis not only in the parental FLT3-ITD cell line but also in all stably transfected subclones harbouring additional FLT3-TKD point mutations (N676D, F691I or G697R). These observations correlated with a strong inhibition of FLT3-ITD and its downstream targets STAT5, AKT and ERK1/2 upon ponatinib incubation, as determined by Western blotting. We conclude that ponatinib represents a promising FLT3-TKI that should be further investigated in clinical trials. The targeted therapy of FLT3-ITD-positive AML with ponatinib might be associated with a lower frequency of secondary resistance caused by acquired FLT3-TKD mutations.
