Autophagy Induction and Autophagic Cell Death in Effector T Cells

The population size of the T cells is tightly regulated. The T cell number drastically increases in response to their specific antigens. Upon antigen clearance, the T cell number decreases over time. Apoptosis, also called type I programmed cell death, plays an important role in eliminating T cells. The role of autophagic cell death, also called type II programmed cell death, is unclear in T cells. Our recent work demonstrated that autophagy is induced in both Th1 and Th2 cells. Both TCR signaling and IL-2 increase autophagy in T cells, and JNK MAP kinases are required for the induction of autophagy in T cells, whereas caspases and mTOR inhibit autophagy in T cells. Autophagy is required for mediating growth factor withdrawal-dependent cell death in T cells. Here, we hypothesize that autophagic cell death plays an important role in T cell homeostasis.

Addendum to:

Autophagy is Induced in CD4⁺ T Cells and Important for the Growth Factor-Withdrawal Cell Death

C. Li, E. Capan, Y. Zhao, J. Zhao, D. Stolz, S.C. Watkins, S. Jin and B. Lu

J Immunol 2006; 177:5163-8     

Hematopoietic Stem Cells,Leukemic Stem Cells and Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

Blood-related cancers, or leukemias, have been shown to arise from a rare subset of cells that escape normal regulation and drive the formation and growth of the tumor. The finding that these so-called cancer stem cells, or leukemic stem cells (LSC), can be purified away from the other cells in the tumor allows their precise analysis to identify candidate molecules and regulatory pathways that play a role in progression, maintenance, and spreading of leukemias. The analyses of the other, numerically dominant, cells in the tumor, while also interesting, do not directly interrogate these key properties of malignancies. Mouse models of human myeloproliferative disorder and acute myelogenous leukemia have highlighted the remarkable conservation of disease mechanisms between both species. They can now be used to identify the LSC for each type of human leukemia and understand how they escape normal regulation and become malignant. Given the clinical importance of LSC identification, the insights gained through these approaches will quickly translate into clinical applications and lead to improved treatments for human leukemias.     

Paraptosis Cell Death Induction by the Thiamine Analog Benfotiamine in Leukemia Cells

Benfotiamine is a synthetic thiamine analogue that stimulates transketolase, a cellular enzyme essential for glucose metabolism. Currently, benfotiamine is used to treat diabetic neuropathy. We recently reported that oral benfotiamine induced a temporary but remarkable recovery from acute myeloid leukemia in an elderly patient who was ineligible for standard chemotherapy due to dementia and renal failure. In the present study we present evidences that benfotiamine possess antitumor activity against leukemia cells. In a panel of nine myeloid leukemia cell lines benfotiamine impaired the viability of HL-60, NB4, K562 and KG1 cells and also inhibited the growing of primary leukemic blasts. The antitumor activity of benfotiamine is not mediated by apoptosis, necrosis or autophagy, but rather occurs though paraptosis cell death induction. Mechanistic studies revealed that benfotiamine inhibited the activity of constitutively active ERK1/2 and concomitantly increased the phosphorylation of JNK1/2 kinase in leukemic cells. In addition, benfotiamine induced the down regulation of the cell cycle regulator CDK3 which resulted in G1 cell cycle arrest in the sensitive leukemic cells. Moreover, combination index studies showed that benfotiamine enhanced the antiproliferative activities of cytarabine against leukemia cells. These findings suggest that benfotiamine has antitumor therapeutic potential.     

微管相关抗癌药物诱导胃癌细胞自噬性细胞死亡的研究

目的:探讨对微管相关抗癌药物诱导凋亡不敏感的胃癌细胞是否发生非凋亡形式的细胞死亡,并进一步明确自噬和自噬性细胞死亡的存在。方法:Annexin V／PI双染用流式细胞仪和MTT法分别检测紫杉醇、长春新碱诱导SGC-7901及BGC-823细胞的凋亡率和总死亡率,死细胞DAPI染色荧光显微镜检测非凋亡性细胞死亡,吖啶橙染色流式细胞仪和荧光显微镜分别定量、定性检测自噬和自噬性细胞死亡的存在。结果:紫杉醇和长春新碱可以诱导凋亡不敏感胃癌细胞BGC-823出现非凋亡性细胞死亡,处理BGC-823细胞早期(24h内)即可出现明显的细胞自噬性变化,紫杉醇诱导的自噬高峰期出现在药物作用3h-6h,长春新碱诱导的自噬高峰期出现在药物作用24h,自噬性细胞死亡存在并可能是药物诱导的非凋亡性细胞死亡的主要形式。结论:微管相关抗癌药物紫杉醇和长春新碱可以诱导凋亡不敏感胃癌细胞BGC-823自噬及自噬性细胞死亡,可能为提高胃癌的化疗敏感性提供新的思路。     

Real-Time Analysis of Imatinib- and Dasatinib-Induced Effects on Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia Cell Interaction with Fibronectin

Attachment of stem leukemic cells to the bone marrow extracellular matrix increases their resistance to chemotherapy and contributes to the disease persistence. In chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), the activity of the fusion BCR-ABL kinase affects adhesion signaling. Using real-time monitoring of microimpedance, we studied in detail the kinetics of interaction of human CML cells (JURL-MK1, MOLM-7) and of control BCR-ABL-negative leukemia cells (HEL, JURKAT) with fibronectin-coated surface. The effect of two clinically used kinase inhibitors, imatinib (a relatively specific c-ABL inhibitor) and dasatinib (dual ABL/SRC family kinase inhibitor), on cell binding to fibronectin is described. Both imatinib and low-dose (several nM) dasatinib reinforced CML cell interaction with fibronectin while no significant change was induced in BCR-ABL-negative cells. On the other hand, clinically relevant doses of dasatinib (100 nM) had almost no effect in CML cells. The efficiency of the inhibitors in blocking the activity of BCR-ABL and SRC-family kinases was assessed from the extent of phosphorylation at autophosphorylation sites. In both CML cell lines, SRC kinases were found to be transactivated by BCR-ABL. In the intracellular context, EC50 for BCR-ABL inhibition was in subnanomolar range for dasatinib and in submicromolar one for imatinib. EC50 for direct inhibition of LYN kinase was found to be about 20 nM for dasatinib and more than 10 µM for imatinib. Cells pretreated with 100 nM dasatinib were still able to bind to fibronectin and SRC kinases are thus not necessary for the formation of cell-matrix contacts. However, a minimal activity of SRC kinases might be required to mediate the increase in cell adhesivity induced by BCR-ABL inhibition. Indeed, active (autophosphorylated) LYN was found to localize in cell adhesive structures which were visualized using interference reflection microscopy.     

Cyclosporine A Induces Apoptotic and Autophagic Cell Death in Rat Pituitary GH3 Cells

Cyclosporine A (CsA) is a powerful immunosuppressive drug with side effects including the development of chronic nephrotoxicity. In this study, we investigated CsA treatment induced apoptotic and autophagic cell death in pituitary GH3 cells. CsA treatment (0.1 to 10 µM) decreased survival of GH3 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Cell viability decreased significantly with increasing CsA concentrations largely due to an increase in apoptosis, while cell death rates due to autophagy altered only slightly. Several molecular and morphological features correlated with cell death through these distinct pathways. At concentrations ranging from 1.0 to 10 µM, CsA induced a dose-dependent increase in expression of the autophagy markers LC3-I and LC3-II. Immunofluorescence staining revealed markedly increased levels of both LC3 and lysosomal-associated membrane protein 2 (Lamp2), indicating increases in autophagosomes. At the same CsA doses, apoptotic cell death was apparent as indicated by nuclear and DNA fragmentation and increased p53 expression. In apoptotic or autophagic cells, p-ERK levels were highest at 1.0 µM CsA compared to control or other doses. In contrast, Bax levels in both types of cell death were increased in a dose-dependent manner, while Bcl-2 levels showed dose-dependent augmentation in autophagy and were decreased in apoptosis. Manganese superoxide dismutase (Mn-SOD) showed a similar dose-dependent reduction in cells undergoing apoptosis, while levels of the intracellular calcium ion exchange maker calbindin-D9k were decreased in apoptosis (1.0 to 5 µM CsA), but unchanged in autophagy. In conclusion, these results suggest that CsA induction of apoptotic or autophagic cell death in rat pituitary GH3 cells depends on the relative expression of factors and correlates with Bcl-2 and Mn-SOD levels.     

6-Shogaol Inhibits Breast Cancer Cells and Stem Cell-Like Spheroids by Modulation of Notch Signaling Pathway and Induction of Autophagic Cell Death

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) pose a serious obstacle to cancer therapy as they can be responsible for poor prognosis and tumour relapse. In this study, we have investigated inhibitory activity of the ginger-derived compound 6-shogaol against breast cancer cells both in monolayer and in cancer-stem cell-like spheroid culture. The spheroids were generated from adherent breast cancer cells. 6-shogaol was effective in killing both breast cancer monolayer cells and spheroids at doses that were not toxic to noncancerous cells. The percentages of CD44⁺CD24^-/^low cells and the secondary sphere content were reduced drastically upon treatment with 6-shogaol confirming its action on CSCs. Treatment with 6-shogaol caused cytoplasmic vacuole formation and cleavage of microtubule associated protein Light Chain3 (LC3) in both monolayer and spheroid culture indicating that it induced autophagy. Kinetic analysis of the LC3 expression and a combination treatment with chloroquine revealed that the autophagic flux instigated cell death in 6-shogaol treated breast cancer cells in contrast to the autophagy inhibitor chloroquine. Furthermore, 6-shogaol-induced cell death got suppressed in the presence of chloroquine and a very low level of apoptosis was exhibited even after prolonged treatment of the compound, suggesting that autophagy is the major mode of cell death induced by 6-shogaol in breast cancer cells. 6-shogaol reduced the expression levels of Cleaved Notch1 and its target proteins Hes1 and Cyclin D1 in spheroids, and the reduction was further pronounced in the presence of a γ-secretase inhibitor. Secondary sphere formation in the presence of the inhibitor was also further reduced by 6-shogaol. Together, these results indicate that the inhibitory action of 6-shogaol on spheroid growth and sustainability is conferred through γ-secretase mediated down-regulation of Notch signaling. The efficacy of 6-shogaol in monolayer and cancer stem cell-like spheroids raise hope for its therapeutic benefit in breast cancer treatment.     

Strategic Treatment Interruptions During Imatinib Treatment of Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

Although imatinib is an effective treatment for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), and nearly all patients treated with imatinib attain some form of remission, imatinib does not completely eliminate leukemia. Moreover, if the imatinib treatment is stopped, most patients eventually relapse (Cortes et al. in Clin. Cancer Res. 11:3425–3432, 2005). In Kim et al. (PLoS Comput. Biol. 4(6):e1000095, 2008), the authors presented a mathematical model for the dynamics of CML under imatinib treatment that incorporates the anti-leukemia immune response. We use the mathematical model in Kim et al. (PLoS Comput. Biol. 4(6):e1000095, 2008) to study and numerically simulate strategic treatment interruptions as a potential therapeutic strategy for CML patients. We present the results of numerous simulated treatment programs in which imatinib treatment is temporarily stopped to stimulate and leverage the anti-leukemia immune response to combat CML. The simulations presented in this paper imply that treatment programs that involve strategic treatment interruptions may prevent leukemia from relapsing and may prevent remission for significantly longer than continuous imatinib treatment. Moreover, in many cases, strategic treatment interruptions may completely eliminate leukemic cells from the body. Thus, strategic treatment interruptions may be a feasible clinical approach to enhancing the effects of imatinib treatment for CML. We study the effects of both the timing and the duration of the treatment interruption on the results of the treatment. We also present a sensitivity analysis of the results to the parameters in the mathematical model.     

KML001 Induces Apoptosis and Autophagic Cell Death in Prostate Cancer Cells via Oxidative Stress Pathway

We investigated the effects of KML001 (NaAsO₂, sodium metaarsenite, Kominox), an orally bioavailable arsenic compound, on the growth and death of human prostate cancer cells and its mechanism of action. Growth inhibition was assessed by cytotoxicity assays in the presence or absence of inhibitor of apoptosis, inhibitor of autophagy or antioxidant N-Acetyl-_L-cysteine to study mechanism of cell death induced by KML001 in PC3, DU145 and LNCaP prostate cancer cell lines. Electron microscopy, flow cytometry and Western blotting were used to study apoptotic and autophagic mechanisms. The DU145 xenograft model was used to determine the efficacy of KML001 in vivo. KML001 decreased the viability of cells and increased the percentage of annexin V-positive cells dose-dependently in prostate cancer cells, and LNCaP cells were more sensitive to KML001 than PC3 or DU145 cells. Electron microscopy revealed typical apoptotic characters and autophagic vacuoles in cells treated with KML001. Exposure to KML001 in prostate cancer cells induced apoptosis and autophagy in a time- and dose-dependent manner. KML001 induced dose-dependent accumulation of reactive oxygen species, and scavenging the reactive oxygen species with N-Acetyl-_L-cysteine reduced LC3 and cleaved poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase. KML001 significantly inhibited tumor growth in the DU145 xenograft model. In addition, significant decrease of proliferation and significant increases of apoptosis and autophagy were observed in KML001-treated tumors than in vehicle-treated tumors. Exposure of human prostate cancer cells to KML001 induced both apoptosis and autophagic cell death via oxidative stress pathway. And KML001 had an antiproliferative effect on DU145 cells in xenograft mice.     

The Mechanism of Action of Splenic Irradiation in Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

The mechanism of action of splenic irradiation in the induction of a remission in chronic myelogenous leukemia was investigated in six patients using a leukocyte kinetic approach. The leukocytes were labelled in vitro with radioactive diisopropylfluorophosphate-32 and returned to the circulation. The effect of treatment on the rate of change of leukocyte specific activity was determined. The results suggest (1) that irradiation of the spleen damages granulopoietic cells as they cycle back and forth between the spleen, blood and other extravascular compartments; (2) that damage to exchangeable granulopoietic cells in transit through the irradiated spleen may explain the long remission often encountered after this form of therapy.     

Stability Analysis of a Model of Interaction Between the Immune System and Cancer Cells in Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

We describe here a simple model for the interaction between leukemic cells and the autologous immune response in chronic phase chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). This model is a simplified version of the model we proposed in Clapp et al. (Cancer Res 75:4053–4062, 2015). Our simplification is based on the observation that certain key characteristics of the dynamics of CML can be captured with a three-compartment model: two for the leukemic cells (stem cells and mature cells) and one for the immune response. We characterize the existence of steady states and their stability for generic forms of immunosuppressive effects of leukemic cells. We provide a complete co-dimension one bifurcation analysis. Our results show how clinical response to tyrosine kinase inhibitors treatment is compatible with the existence of a stable low disease, treatment-free steady state.     

PR1-Specific T Cells Are Associated with Unmaintained Cytogenetic Remission of Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia After Interferon Withdrawal

Background

Interferon-α (IFN) induces complete cytogenetic remission (CCR) in 20–25% CML patients and in a small minority of patients; CCR persists after IFN is stopped. IFN induces CCR in part by increasing cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) specific for PR1, the HLA-A2-restricted 9-mer peptide from proteinase 3 and neutrophil elastase, but it is unknown how CCR persists after IFN is stopped.

Principal Findings

We reasoned that PR1-CTL persist and mediate CML-specific immunity in patients that maintain CCR after IFN withdrawal. We found that PR1-CTL were increased in peripheral blood of 7/7 HLA-A2+ patients during unmaintained CCR from 3 to 88 months after IFN withdrawal, as compared to no detectable PR1-CTL in 2/2 IFN-treated CML patients not in CCR. Unprimed PR1-CTL secreted IFNγ and were predominantly CD45RA±CD28+CCR7+CD57-, consistent with functional naïve and central memory (CM) T cells. Similarly, following stimulation, proliferation occurred predominantly in CM PR1-CTL, consistent with long-term immunity sustained by self-renewing CM T cells. PR1-CTL were functionally anergic in one patient 6 months prior to cytogenetic relapse at 26 months after IFN withdrawal, and in three relapsed patients PR1-CTL were undetectable but re-emerged 3–6 months after starting imatinib.

Conclusion

These data support the hypothesis that IFN elicits CML-specific CM CTL that may contribute to continuous CCR after IFN withdrawal and suggest a role for T cell immune therapy with or without tyrosine kinase inhibitors as a strategy to prolong CR in CML.     

慢性髓细胞性白血病病人骨髓单个核细胞中差异表达基因的筛选

目的:筛选慢性髓细胞性白血病(CML)病人骨髓单个核细胞与正常人的差异表达基因,探讨CML的发病机制.方法:提取正常人和CML病人单个核细胞的RNA,逆转录成cDNA并用地高辛标记,应用全基因组表达谱基因芯片对差异表达基因进行研究,采用Jubilant病理/疾病分类法对CML相关差异表达基因进行分析.结果:共筛选出CM...     

Differences in structural elements of Bcr-Abl oncoprotein isoforms in Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

in silico modeling, using Psipred and ExPASy servers was employed to determine the structural elements of Bcr-Abl oncoprotein(p210^BCR-ABL) isoforms, b2a2 and b3a2, expressed in Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML). Both these proteins are tyrosinekinases having masses of 210-kDa and differing only by 25 amino acids coded by the b3 exonand an amino acidsubstitution(Glu903Asp). The secondary structure elements of the two proteins show differences in five α-helices and nine β-strands whichrelates to differences in the SH₃, SH₂, SH1 and DNA-binding domains. These differences can result in different roles played by thetwo isoforms in mediating signal transduction during the course of CML.     

Modeling Imatinib-Treated Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia: Reducing the Complexity of Agent-Based Models

We develop a model for describing the dynamics of imatinib-treated chronic myelogenous leukemia. Our model is based on replacing the recent agent-based model of Roeder et al. (Nat. Med. 12(10):1181–1184, 2006) by a system of deterministic difference equations. These difference equations describe the time-evolution of clusters of individual agents that are grouped by discretizing the state space. Hence, unlike standard agent-base models, the complexity of our model is independent of the number of agents, which allows to conduct simulation studies with a realistic number of cells. This approach also allows to directly evaluate the expected steady states of the system. The results of our numerical simulations show that our model replicates the averaged behavior of the original Roeder model with a significantly reduced computational cost. Our general approach can be used to simplify other similar agent-based models. In particular, due to the reduced computational complexity of our technique, one can use it to conduct sensitivity studies of the parameters in large agent-based systems.