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Geldanamycin-induced Lyn dissociation from aberrant Hsp90-stabilized cytosolic complex is an early event in apoptotic mechanisms in B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia

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Lyn, a tyrosine kinase belonging to the Src family, plays a key role as a switch molecule that couples the B-cell receptor to downstream signaling. In B-CLL cells, Lyn is overexpressed, anomalously present in the cytosol, and displays a high constitutive activity, compared with normal B lymphocytes. The aim of this work was to gain insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying these aberrant properties of Lyn, which have already been demonstrated to be related to defective apoptosis in B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) cells. Herein, Lyn is described to be in an active conformation as integral component of an aberrant cytosolic 600-kDa multiprotein complex in B-CLL cells, associated with several proteins, such as Hsp90 through its catalytic domain, and HS1 and SHP-1L through its SH3 domain. In particular, Hsp90 appears tightly bound to cytosolic Lyn (CL), thus stabilizing the aberrant complex and converting individual transient interactions into stable ones. We also demonstrate that treatment of B-CLL cells with geldanamycin, an Hsp90 inhibitor already reported to induce cell death, is capable of dissociating the CL complex in the early phases of apoptosis and thus inactivating CL itself. These data identify the CL complex as a potential target for therapy in B-CLL.
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doi:10.1182/blood-2008-02-139139
Prepublished online September 2, 2008;
Tibaldi, Cristina Gattazzo, Renato Zambello, Gianpietro Semenzato and Anna M. Brunati
Livio Trentin, Martina Frasson, Arianna Donella-Deana, Federica Frezzato, Mario A. Pagano, Elena
lymphocytic leukemia
cytosolic complex is an early event in apoptotic mechanisms in B-chronic
Geldanamycin-induced Lyn dissociation from aberrant HSP90-stabilized
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GELDANAMYCIN-INDUCED LYN DISSOCIATION FROM ABERRANT HSP90-
STABILIZED CYTOSOLIC COMPLEX IS AN EARLY EVENT IN APOPTOTIC
MECHANISMS IN B-CHRONIC LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKEMIA
Livio Trentin,1,2 * Martina Frasson, 3 * Arianna Donella-Deana,3 Federica Frezzato,1,2 Mario A.
Pagano, 3 Elena Tibaldi, 3 Cristina Gattazzo,1,2 Renato Zambello,1,2 Gianpietro Semenzato,1,2 and
Anna M. Brunati3
1Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Hematology and Clinical Immunology
Branch, Padua University School of Medicine, Padua, Italy.
2Venetian Institute for Molecular Medicine (VIMM), Centro di Eccellenza per la Ricerca
Biomedica.
3Department of Biological Chemistry, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
*These two authors contributed equally to the work
Running Title: Lyn Hsp90-stabilized cytosolic complex in B-CLL
Correspondence author:
Gianpietro Semenzato, Department of Hematology and Clinical and Experimental Medicine,
University of Padova, Via Giustiniani 2, 35128 Padova, Italy.
Phone: 011-39-049-821-2298
Fax: 011-39-049-821-1970
E-mail: g.semenzato@unipd.it
Blood First Edition Paper, prepublished online September 2, 2008; DOI 10.1182/blood-2008-02-139139
Copyright © 2008 American Society of Hematology
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Abstract
Lyn, a tyrosine kinase belonging to the Src family, plays a key role as a switch molecule that
couples the B cell receptor to downstream signalling. In B-CLL cells, Lyn is over-expressed,
anomalously present in the cytosol and displays a high constitutive activity, as compared to normal
B lymphocytes. The aim of this work was to gain insights into the molecular mechanisms
underlying these aberrant properties of Lyn, which have already been demonstrated to be related to
defective apoptosis in B-CLL cells. Herein, Lyn is described to be in an active conformation as
integral component of an aberrant cytosolic 600 kDa multiprotein complex in B-CLL cells,
associated with several proteins, such as Hsp90 through its catalytic domain, and HS1 and SHP-1L
through its SH3 domain. In particular, Hsp90 appears tightly bound to cytosolic Lyn (CL), thus
stabilizing the aberrant complex and converting individual transient interactions into stable ones.
We also demonstrate that treatment of B-CLL cells with geldanamycin, an Hsp90 inhibitor already
reported to induce cell death, is capable of dissociating the CL complex in the early phases of
apoptosis and thus inactivating CL itself. These data identify the CL complex as a potential target
for therapy in B-CLL.
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Introduction
B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) is the most common leukemia in the Western world
and is characterized by the accumulation of relatively mature B cells with aberrant co-expression of
CD5+ in blood, bone marrow and peripheral lymphoid organs (1). The clinical course of B-CLL is
heterogeneous, varying from stable, long-lasting indolent form to rapidly progressive disease and
death. Several biological parameters have been proposed to account for this clinical heterogeneity,
including the mutational status of immunoglobulin variable region genes (IgVH), expression of 70-
kDa zeta-associated protein (ZAP-70) and CD38+ antigen, as well as specific cytogenetic alterations
(2,3). On the basis of the mutational status of IgVH, B-CLL patients can be classified into two major
groups with different outcomes: one with mutated IgVH genes (M-CLL) and a relatively stable
disease course, and one with unmutated IgVH configuration (U-CLL) and a more aggressive clinical
behaviour. The latter correlates with the up-regulation of ZAP–70 (4,5). Despite the extensive
molecular characterization of B-CLL cells, little is known on the molecular mechanisms involved in
its neoplastic transformation and proliferation. In the past, it was assumed that CLL is caused by the
accumulation of slowly proliferating cells with defective apoptosis, but more recently B-CLL has
been described as a dynamic disorder, in which the accumulation of cells is consequent to increased
cell replication associated with decreased cell death, the high replication rate resulting in a rapidly
progressive disease (6,7).
One approach toward the discovery of new therapeutic targets is to explore the nature of the
intracellular pathways responsible for modulating the proliferation and/or apoptotic rate of B-CLL
cells. In this regard, B Cell Receptor (BCR) engagement is known to play an important role by
triggering a signaling cascade mediated by Lyn, a tyrosine kinase belonging to the Src family
(SFK), which plays a key role in many downstream pathways (8-10). The activity of SFKs is
mainly modulated by the phosphorylation of two critical tyrosine residues in the activation loop
(Tyr396 of Lyn) and the C-terminus (Tyr508 of Lyn) (11-13). Phosphorylation of C-terminal
tyrosine induces an inactive closed conformation of the protein kinase through two major
intramolecular inhibitory interactions: binding of phosphorylated C-terminal tyrosine to the SH2
domain, and interaction of a polyproline type II helical motif (PPII) in the SH2-kinase linker with
the SH3 domain (14-16). The activation of SFKs involves disruption of these inhibitory interactions
through multiple mechanisms, such as dephosphorylation of the tail, displacement of the tail from
the SH2 domain, displacement of the PPII motif from the SH3 domain, mutations in the SH3-SH2
connector, and/or mutations in the SH2-kinase linker (17-23). It is known that, following activation,
SFK level is regulated by the balance of two opposing mechanisms, degradation by ubiquitinylation
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or rescue by association with Hsp90, a chaperone interacting with the N-terminal lobe of the SFK
catalytic domain (24-27).
We have recently demonstrated in B-CLL cells that Lyn is remarkably overexpressed and
anomalously localized in the cytosol, displaying remarkable constitutive activity that leads to
increased basal tyrosine protein phosphorylation and poor responsiveness to BCR ligation.
Restoration of apoptosis by treatment of leukemia cells with specific Lyn inhibitors also points out
the importance of high basal Lyn activity in altering the balance between cell survival and apoptosis
signals in B-CLL cells (28). The aim of this work was to gain deeper insight into the molecular
mechanisms which give rise to aberrant properties of Lyn in this disease. We herein demonstrate
that Lyn is an integral component of an aberrant cytosolic 600 kDa complex, where Lyn is
associated both with Hsp90 through its catalytic domain and with HS1 and SHP-1L through its SH3
domain. Moreover, Hsp90 stabilizes the complex by contributing to converting a network of
transient interactions into permanent ones, thus maintaining Lyn in an active conformation and
preventingits degradation. Geldanamycin (GA), an apoptotic compound which directly binds and
inhibits Hsp90, causes disruption of the aberrant cytosolic complex and in turn inactivation of Lyn
in the early phases of apoptosis in B-CLL cells.
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Materials and Methods
Materials
Geldanamycin (GA), 17-AAG [17-(allylamino)-17-demethoxy-geldanamycin), lactacystin, polymer
polyGlu4Tyr, λPPase, and phosphatase inhibitor cocktail 1 and 2 were from Sigma-Aldrich (St.
Louis, MO). [
γ
32P]ATP was from Amersham Bioscience (NJ, USA).
Anti-IgM–FITC and anti-IgD–FITC antibodies were from DakoCytomation (Glostrup, Denmark).
Anti-phospho-Lyn (Tyr-507) (pYT), anti-phospho-SFK (Tyr-416) (pYA) and anti-PARP polyclonal
antibodies from Cell Signaling Technology (Danvers, MA). Anti-Lyn, anti-Akt, anti-Cbl, anti-SHP-
2, anti-SHP-1, a polyclonal antibody raised against the C-terminal tail of SHP-1 and Hsp90
α
/
β
were from Santa Cruz Biotechnology (Santa Cruz, CA). Anti-HS1 polyclonal antibody was
obtained as elsewhere reported (42). Monoclonal antibodies CD3–FITC, CD19–FITC, CD5–PE,
CD16–PE, CD23–PE, CD38–PE and CD79b–PE, the monoclonal anti-SHP-1/1L, were from BD
Biosciences (San Diego, CA). The monoclonal anti-phosphotyrosine (clone PY-20) was from MP
Biomedicals (Aurora, OH). Anti-STAT3 antibody and monoclonal anti-ZAP-70 antibody were from
Upstate Biotechnology (Lake Placid, NY). Anti-
β
-actin antibody (clone AC-15) was from Sigma-
Aldrich.
Patients, cell separation and culture conditions
After obtaining their informed consent, 40 untreated patients, according to the criteria for diagnosis
of B-CLL (29), were enrolled in the study. The study was approved by the scientific board from the
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Padua University. Informed consent was
provided in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.
Patient characteristics are listed in Table 1. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were
isolated from the blood of B-CLL patients by density gradient centrifugation through a Ficoll-
Hypaque cushion, as previously reported (30). B cells were isolated as already described (31). As
assessed by flow cytometry, the content of CD19+ B cells was higher than 95% in all samples.
Untouched peripheral blood B cells were isolated from the PBMC of 5 healthy donors by negative
selection with a B-cell isolation kit and MACS separation columns (Milteny Biotec, Bergisch
Gladbach, Germany). The purity of isolated peripheral blood B cells was at least 95% (CD19+), as
assessed by flow cytometry.
Purified B-CLL cells were either used immediately or cultured (2 x 106 cells/ml) in RPMI-1640
medium (Sigma- Aldrich) supplemented with 10% heated inactivated fetal calf serum, 2 mM L-
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glutamine, 100 U/ml penicillin and 100
μ
g/ml streptomycin, at 37° C in a humidified atmosphere
containing 5% CO2.
Flow cytometry analysis
The following monoclonal antibodies were used for direct immunofluorescence staining: CD3–
FITC, CD19–FITC, anti-IgM–FITC, anti-IgD–FITC, CD5–PE, CD16–PE, CD23–PE, CD38–PE,
and CD79b–PE. Cells were scored on a FACScalibur analyzer (BD Biosciences, Immunocytometry
Systems) and data were processed by CellQuest software (BD).
Recombinant proteins
The recombinant GST-Lyn/SH3 domain was expressed and purified according to the protocol
described in (32). The GST-Lyn/SH2 domain was expressed and purified as previously reported
(33).
Recombinant HS1
Δ
N-Term (
Δ
1-207), HS1
Δ
SH3 (
Δ
403-486) and HS1-
Δ
Pro-rich (
Δ
324-393) were
expressed and purified as previously described (34).
Cell lysis and subcellular fractionation
For total lysates, normal and B-CLL cells (5 x 105 for each assay) were rapidly lysed in 62mM
Tris/HCL buffer, pH6.8, 5% glycerol and 0.5%
β
-mercaptoethanol containing 0.5% SDS.
For subcellular fractionation, B-CLL cells (15 x 106 for each assay) were disrupted on ice by
sonication (3 cycles of 5 seconds at 22 Hz intervalled by 15 seconds) or alternatively in a Dounce
homogenizer (20 strokes) in 350
μ
l of isotonic buffer (50 mM Tris/HCl, pH 7.5, 0.25 M saccharose,
1 mM sodium orthovanadate, and protease inhibitor cocktail). Homogenates were centrifuged 10
min at 10,000g, and the supernatant was further centrifuged 1 hour at 105,000g to separate cytosol
from microsomes. Protein concentration was determined by the Bradford method.
Treatment of cytosol with
λ
PPase
300 μg of the cytosolic protein were obtained from B-CLL cells as described above, with isotonic
buffer without sodium orthovanadate. The sample was supplemented with 20 mM MnCl2 and
λPPase buffer. The mixture was divided into two equal aliquots and 300 units of λPPase were added
to one of them, The samples were incubated 45 min at 30°C and blocked by phosphatase inhibitor
cocktails 1 and 2 and 1mM sodium orthovanadate.
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Fractionation by centrifugation on glycerol gradient
150
μ
g of cytosolic protein from B-CLL cells were loaded on a 3.9-ml glycerol (10-40%) linear
gradient in 25 mM Hepes, pH 7.4, 1 mM EDTA. The tubes were centrifuged 18 h at 100,000g in a
SW60Ti rotor (Beckman) at 4°C, and fractionated from the top into 18 fractions.
Western blotting
Samples, from different cell fractions or immunoprecipitates, were run in 10% SDS-PAGE and
transferred to nitrocellulose membranes. After treatment with 3% BSA at 4° C overnight,
membranes were incubated with the appropriate antibodies for 2 h and treated as reported in (28).
Membranes, when required, were reprobed with other primary antibodies after stripping with 0.1 M
glycine (pH 2.5), 0.5 M NaCl, 0.1% Tween 20, 1%
β
-mercaptoethanol and 0.1% NaN3 for 2 x 10
min.
In vitro tyrosine kinase assays
Lyn activity from various samples was assayed on 200 µM cdc2(6-20) peptide or 1mg/ml
polyGlu4Tyr as described in (28).
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Results
The remarkable basal activity of Lyn is related to its aberrant phosphorylation state in B-CLL
cells.
To understand the molecular mechanisms by which Lyn becomes constitutively active in resting B-
CLL cells, cell lysates as well as microsomes and cytosol from untreated B-CLL patients in
different clinical stages (Table 1), compared with B lymphocytes from healthy donors, were tested
for the autophosphorylation site common to all SFKs (Tyr-396 of Lyn, and referred to as pYA) and
for phospho-Lyn site recognizing the C-terminal regulatory tyrosine of Lyn (Tyr-508 of Lyn, and
referred to as pYT), diagrammed as shown in Figure 1A, by Western blot analysis. The relative
purity of the subcellular compartments was assessed by using antibodies against specific markers
(Figure 1B). Figure 1C shows the representative results obtained on the sample from one normal
donor (left panel) in comparison with that from patient #15 (right panel), whereas Figure 1D
displays the densitometric analysis of the western blot bands corresponding to Lyn on B-cells from
5 normal donors (left panel) compared to the data obtained in B-CLL cells from all the 40 B-CLL
patients (right panel). As expected in normal B cells, Lyn appeared exclusively in the microsomal
fraction and immunoreacted only with anti-pYT antibody, demonstrating that the enzyme was in the
inactive conformation (Figure 1C and D). As previously observed (28), B-CLL samples showed
overexpression of Lyn compared with control cells (Figure 1C and D, compare lane 1 with lane 4)
and a remarkable fraction of the kinase (more than 30% of total protein) abnormally localized in the
cytosol (Figure 1C and D, compare lanes 2 and 3 with lanes 5 and 6, respectively). Immunostaining
of the sub-cellular fractions revealed that the anti-pYT antibody reacted only with microsomal Lyn,
whereas anti-pYA reacted with both microsomal and cytosolic Lyn, indicating that cytosolic Lyn
was in its fully active conformation in unstimulated leukemia cells.
Cytosolic Lyn (CL) participates in a complex stabilized by interactions mediated by its SH3 and
catalytic domains
Because Lyn cumulates in an active conformation in the cytosolic fraction of B-CLL cells, we
examined the role of its interactions with potential partners, which might lead to an aberrant state of
Lyn.
Irrespective of the method of cell disruption, either by sonication (Figure 2A, S) or by douncing
(Figure 2A, D), Lyn was detected by western blot analysis after fractionation of the cytosol of
leukemia cells from B-CLL patients on a glycerol gradient in the correspondence of a molecular
weight of around 600 kDa, suggesting its taking part in a multiprotein complex.
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To assess whether phosphorylation of the components, including Lyn, of the cytosolic Lyn (CL)
complex played a role in its stabilization, the cytosol was fractionated, under the conditions already
described above, on a glycerol gradient as such or after treatment with the broad-specificity lambda
protein phosphatase (λ-PPase). Figure 2B shows that the molecular weight of the CL complex was
not modified by λ-PPase treatment, demonstrating that neither Lyn pYA nor phosphorylation of
other protein partners had a role in the maintenance of the CL complex.
Furthermore, the distribution profile of CL activity of the gradient fractions tested in vitro on the
Src-specific peptide cdc2(6-20) showed that, after
λ
-PPase treatment, the dephosphorylated form of
Lyn displayed lower kinase activity, this finding being directly related to the tyrosine
dephosphorylation in the activation loop of the kinase (Figure 2B, lower panel compared with upper
panel). In parallel experiments, PP2, a selective SFK inhibitor (35), abolished the kinase activity
assayed on the non-specific substrate poly(Glu4Tyr) random polymer, indicating that the tyrosine
kinase activity of the cytosolic complex was exclusively catalyzed by Lyn (data not shown).
To highlight the nature of the interactions in the CL complex, the fractions 13 and 14 of the glycerol
gradient containing Lyn (Figure 2A) were collected, differently treated, and fractionated on a
further glycerol gradient. The results are shown in Figure 2C. This procedure did not affect protein
interactions, as demonstrated by sedimentation of the CL complex at the expected molecular mass
and the kinase activity fully coincided with the CL complex. The addition of SDS to a final
concentration of 0.05% to the CL complex under non-reducing conditions showed that disulfide
bridges did not mediate Lyn binding to the interacting proteins, as proven by the detergent-induced
dissociation of Lyn and its appearance as uncomplexed and inactive protein in fractions 1-2.
To analyze the interactions of Lyn with hypothetical binding proteins, we performed competition
assays by using compounds capable of disrupting their binding to SH3, SH2 and catalytic domains
of Lyn itself, thus altering the structure of the CL complex. Western blotting with anti-Lyn antibody
showed that addition of the GST-Lyn/SH3 domain induced complex dissociation and the
appearance of CL in the fractions 6-10, suggesting that the enzyme interacted with other proteins by
means of its SH3 domain. Conversely, the addition of the GST-Lyn/SH2 domain, which is capable
of binding phosphotyrosine-containing motifs, did not induce an apparent complex dissociation.
The CL complex was also treated with geldanamycin (GA), a compound that directly binds to and
inhibits Hsp90, thereby causing proteolytic degradation of its client proteins (36, 37). This treatment
promoted the dissociation of Lyn from the 600-kDa complex, as revealed by the immunodetection
of Lyn in the gradient fractions at lower molecular weight, suggesting that CL may associate with
Hsp90. As for the activity of Lyn, it was unaltered when the GST-Lyn/SH2 domain was used in the
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competition assay, whereas strongly reduced and totally abolished after treatment with the GST-
Lyn/SH3 domain and GA, respectively.
Lyn SH3 domain promotes the interaction of CL with HS1 and SHP-1
To identify the protein partners binding to Lyn through the Lyn SH3 domain, we analyzed the CL
complex for the presence of already known proteins interacting with the SH3 domain of SFKs,
namely Cbl, Akt, SHP-1L, SHP-2, HS1 and STAT3 (38-43). The CL complex purified from the
cytosol of leukemia cells obtained from each of 40 patients was thus subjected to a further glycerol
gradient, and aliquots of the resulting fractions were probed with antibodies against Lyn and the
above mentioned potential protein ligands, demonstrating that only SHP-1L, HS1 and STAT3 co-
sedimented with Lyn (Figure 3A).
SHP-1L, the C-terminal alternatively spliced form of SHP-1 with a unique C-terminal tail
containing the proline-rich motif PVPGPPVLSP, was identified with an antibody recognizing the
protein-tyrosine phosphatase domain shared by SHP-1L and SHP-1 (40-41). The presence of the
latter was ruled out, because the specific antibody raised against its C-terminal tail showed no
immunoreactivity (Figure 3A). SHP-1L physically interacted with Lyn in the CL complex, as
demonstrated by immunoprecipitating SHP-1L or Lyn from the glycerol fractions containing the CL
complex and analyzing the immunocomplex with anti-Lyn or anti-SHP1/1L antibody, respectively.
The addition of either the synthetic Pro-rich peptide (KGGRSRLPLPPLPPPG) known to interact
with Lyn SH3 domain (44) or the GST-Lyn/SH3 domain, during anti-Lyn or anti-SHP-1/1L
immunoprecipitation, completely abolished the binding between Lyn and SHP-1L (Figure 3B).
The interaction between HS1 and Lyn in the CL complex was demonstrated by similar
immunoprecipitation assays (Figure 3C). Since HS1 contains a variety of structurally significant
motifs, including a proline-rich region (aminoacids 324-393) and an SH3 domain located at the C-
terminus (32), we performed competition assays by adding recombinant truncated forms of HS1
during anti-Lyn or anti-HS1 immunoprecipitation, to identify the HS1 region interacting with Lyn.
As shown in Figure 3C, while HS1ΔSH3 completely abolished the interaction between Lyn and
HS1, the addition of the HS1 mutant lacking the Pro-rich sequence proved to be ineffective,
indicating that the Lyn SH3 domain interacted with the HS1 Pro-rich sequence. This finding was
further confirmed by adding the Pro-rich peptide, which abolished Lyn-HS1 co-
immunoprecipitation (Figure 3C) performed on the fractions containing the CL complex, under the
same experimental conditions.
On the other hand, no interaction between STAT3 and Lyn was evidenced, as the former was not
revealed after immunoprecipitation with anti-Lyn antibody and the latter was not detected after
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immunoprecipitation with anti-STAT3 antibody, showing that the two proteins are not part of the
same complex (data not shown).
Lyn catalytic domain interacts with the chaperone Hsp90 in the CL complex
To explore the role played by the catalytic domain of Lyn in the CL complex, and on the basis of
data obtained with GA, we verified whether Hsp90 takes part in the cytosolic complex (Figure 2C).
The CL complex purified from the cytosol of leukemia cells obtained from each of 40 patients was
fractionated on a second glycerol gradient, and aliquots of the resulting fractions were revealed with
antibodies to Lyn and Hsp90. Hsp90 and Lyn sedimented in the same glycerol gradient fractions
(Figure 4A), and the interaction between the two proteins was demonstrated by probing Hsp90- or
Lyn-immunoprecipitates with anti-Lyn and anti-Hsp90 antibodies, respectively (Figure 4B).
Treatment of CL complex with GA or its derivative 17-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17-
AAG) induced the expected dissociation of Lyn from Hsp90 (Figure 4B), whereas addition of Pro-
rich peptide or GST- Lyn/SH3 domain did not disrupt Lyn-Hsp90 interaction. Experiments aimed at
investiganting the potential binding of Hsp90 with the membrane-anchored Lyn in B-CLL cells
showed that the chaperone was not bound to the microsomal tyrosine kinase (data not shown).
Synergistic effect of Lyn domains in maintaining the CL complex
To better define the mechanisms regulating the stabilization of the CL complex, the cytosol of
leukemia cells obtained from 16 B-CLL patients, 8 U-CLL and 8 M-CLL, was incubated with
compounds capable of destabilizing interactions mediated by either the Lyn SH3 domain (GST-
Lyn/SH3 domain and the Pro-rich peptide) or the catalytic domain (GA), in the presence or absence
of lactacystin, a specific proteasome inhibitor (45). After treatment with each compound, both Lyn
activity and protein level of CL were tested.
In all the samples analyzed, the addition of GST-Lyn/SH3 domain and GA clearly led to
degradation of CL (Figure 5A, lanes 3 and 5). In the presence of lactacystin, although Lyn activity
was markedly reduced, its protein level was not altered; conversely, treatment with the Pro-rich
peptide enhanced the kinase activity of Lyn and protected it from degradation. It was the inhibitory
effect of lactacystin indeed to enable us to examine the interactions between CL and its protein
ligands on the CL immunoprecipitated from B-CLL cytosol after treatment with GST-Lyn/SH3
domain or GA. GA abolished the interaction between Hsp90 and the CL complex, leaving the
association between Lyn with HS1 and SHP-1L nearly intact (Figure 5B). In parallel, treatment
with the GST-Lyn/SH3 domain disrupted the interaction of HS1 and SHP-1L with Lyn and led to
partial dissociation of Hsp90 from the CL complex.
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These results demonstrate that not only Hsp90 contributes to preventing Lyn degradation, but also
that interactions between Lyn SH3 domain and its protein ligands play a role in the stabilization and
preservation of the CL complex, maintaining the Lyn active conformation, regardless of the protein
partners containing the SH3-cognate Pro-rich sequence, such as HS1 or SHP-1L.
CL complex becomes destabilized in parallel with GA-induced apoptosis
Since inhibition of Lyn activity, obtained by treating B-CLL cells with specific inhibitors of
tyrosine kinases is sufficient to restore cell apoptosis (28), we investigated the fate of the CL
complex in GA-induced apoptosis (46).
Freshly isolated leukemic B-cells obtained from 16 B-CLL patients, 8 U-CLL and 8 M-CLL, were
incubated in the presence of GA at different times. The cleavage of poly-ADP-ribose polymerase
(PARP-1), which is indicative of apoptosis, was observed after 12 h of GA treatment, in both U-
CLL (Figure 6A left panels) and M-CLL (Figure 6A, right panels) samples. On the other hand, CL
specific activity started to be decreased 2 h after GA treatment, reaching 73% and 84% of
inhibition in U-CLL and M-CLL, respectively (Figure 6C), whereas microsomal Lyn specific
activity decreased only after 24 h treatment (Figure 6D). It is noteworthy that the aberrant high
basal protein Tyr-phosphorylation in B-CLL lysates (Figure 6B) was found to be decreased in
parallel with the inhibition of CL activity induced by GA treatment. These data led us to infer that
the increased basal tyrosine phosphorylation could be accounted for by the stabilization resulting
from synergistic interactions between Lyn and other partners.
To confirm this hypothesis, freshly isolated B-CLL cells from 8 patients, 4 U-CLL and 4 M-CLL,
were treated with GA at different times, and the cytosol was fractionated on a glycerol gradient. The
resulting fractions were tested for Lyn activity and protein level. This analysis showed that Lyn
activity, detected only in the correspondence of the 600-kDa complex, decreased over time in
parallel with GA treatment (Figure 7A). This treatment changed the distribution profile of CL over
a wider range of molecular weights in the glycerol gradient, as revealed by Western blotting,
suggesting that CL activity is directly correlated with the stability of the complex (Figure 7A). CL
immunoprecipitates from the cytosol of the same samples also displayed decreasing amounts of
HS1, SHP-1L and Hsp90 after GA treament, supporting the hypothesized involvement of the
interaction domains of CL in the stabilization of the CL complex (Figure 7B).
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Discussion
In this report, we demonstrate that the Src kinase Lyn, which is abnormally present in the cytosol of
B-CLL cells, is an integral component of an aberrant cytosolic complex of 600 kDa (Figure 2). In
this complex, cytosolic Lyn (CL), which represents 30% of total Lyn, is present in an active
conformation and is associated with Hsp90, HS1 and SHP-1L (Figures 3 and 4). These proteins are
likely to account for some of the anomalous properties of Lyn in B-CLL cells in comparison to
normal B cells, such as overexpression with altered turnover, atypical localization in the cytosol and
remarkable constitutive activity (28). Geldanamycin (GA), a compound known to bind and inhibit
Hsp90, is shown to cause the disruption of the aberrant cytosolic complex and consequently the
inactivation of Lyn in the early phases of apoptosis.
Hsp90 targets client protein-kinases, including SFKs (47-48), stabilizing the kinase active
conformation and counterbalancing the opposing mechanism of degradation by ubiquitination.
Although the association of SFKs with Hsp90 is difficult to detect, likely because of low-affinity
binding and repeated cycles of association and release (49-51), in B-CLL cells CL appears tightly
bound to Hsp90, suggesting an abnormal behaviour of both proteins or other types of interaction
that synergistically contribute to stabilize of the complex. Hsp90 has been recently reported to
exhibit an activated conformation in tumor cells which, in contrast with normal tissues, results in
higher affinity to its inhibitors (52-53). This increased affinity appears to be due to co-chaperone-
induced changes in the ATP binding site of Hsp90, which lead to high ATPase activity, whereas
Hsp90 from normal tissues is in a latent, apparently unactivated state. Notably, activated Hsp90 is
described to bind to and stabilize ZAP-70, which acts as a Hsp90 client protein only in B-CLL cells
(54). Because we detected neither Hsp70 nor cdc37, essential co-chaperones of two known
multichaperone Hsp90 complexes, in association with Hsp90 in the CL complex purified on a
glycerol gradient (data not shown), Hsp90 does not appear to be in a traditionally known activation
state, suggesting that Hsp90 might be in an altered condition accounting for its tight binding to Lyn.
The data presented in this work actually support the view that the high affinity between Hsp90 and
Lyn may be due to the interaction of Lyn with specific ligands through its non-catalytic domains.
It is well established that ligands binding to the SH3 domain of SFKs can efficiently activate them
by directly disrupting the intramolecular inhibitory interaction between polyproline linker and the
kinase SH3 domain (11). In this regard, we demonstrate that the interaction between the SH3
domain of Lyn and the Pro-rich regions of discrete proteins, including HS1 and SHP-1L,
contributes to stabilize the complex and protect Lyn from degradation (Figures 3 and 5). In
particular, HS1 is a 79-kDa intracellular protein expressed in cells of lymphohematopoietic origin
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with a pivotal role in the signaling cascade triggered by BCR stimulation, upon which Lyn
phosphorylates HS1 by "sequential" mechanism (55); SHP-1L is a 70 kDa cytoplasmic spliced
variant of the protein-tyrosine phosphatase SHP-1, predominantly expressed in human
hematopoietic tissues and involved in the regulation of hematopoietic signal transduction (40,41).
HS1 and SHP-1L may be replaced by the Pro-rich peptide KGGRSRLPLPPLPPPG which contains
the optimal motif for binding to the SH3 domain of Lyn without altering the stability of the CL
complex (Figure 5B). Furthermore, interaction between the SH3 domain of Lyn and the Pro-rich
peptide stimulates the kinase activity of Lyn leaving the protein level of Lyn unchanged in the
cytosol (Figure 5A). We also show that treatment with GA destabilizes the CL complex by
disrupting the interaction between Lyn and Hsp90 and by weakening the interactions mediated by
the SH3 domain, as observed in the cytosolic fraction of B-CLL cells (Figure 5). However, our
results indicate that, in B-CLL cells, Lyn is maintained in an active conformation and preserved
from degradation due to the interaction not only with Hsp90 but also with several ligands of the Lyn
SH3 domain in a synergistic manner with Hsp90, regardless of the partners containing the Pro-rich
sequence, such as HS1 and SHP-1L. In this view, we can hypothesize that the CL complex, which
is detected in all B-CLL patients, may display a wide variability of the proteins binding to Lyn SH3,
without ruling out the possibility the composition of the CL complex result from the expression
level of the interacting proteins.
As emphasized by studies on regulatory mechanisms of SFKs, interaction of the SH3 domain with
proteins containing Pro-rich sequences may be modulated by ligands targeting SFKs themselves,
e.g. C-terminal Src kinase-homologous (CHK), which has been shown to destabilize this binding by
a non-catalytic inhibitory mechanism (12,13,56). Conversely, we demonstrate that Hsp90 stabilizes
the complex in which the SH3 domain is engaged and maintains the kinase in an active
conformation. Hence, interaction of Hsp90 and SH3 ligands with their respective binding domains
synergistically converts individual transient interactions into permanent ones, making the complex
difficult to degrade (Figure 7C). Further studies are needed to establish a model for sequential
binding of ligands in the assembly of the CL complex and why specific proteins are recruited to it.
Notably, HS1 has already been shown to play a role related to its phosphorylation state in B-CLL
(57): finding a link between the two events may shed light on the pathogenesis of B-CLL.
We observed that a relationship exists between the stability of the CL complex and hence the
activated state of Lyn and the defective apoptosis of B-CLL cells. We had previously demonstrated
that the high basal activity of Lyn, related to the reduced ability of B-CLL cells to enter apoptosis,
results from the tyrosine kinase activity of microsomal and cytosolic Lyn (28). Treatment with GA,
which triggers programmed cell death, enabled us to differentiate these two subpopulations of Lyn,
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by disrupting the CL complex and thus inactivating CL. It is noteworthy that inactivation of CL by
GA occurs earlier than its degradation, indicating that the activity of CL is directly dependent on the
stability of the complex. These data, observed in freshly isolated B-CLL cells, are in agreement
with those obtained in cytosol extracts treated with compounds capable of destabilizing the
interactions of the CL complex mediated by the Lyn SH3 domain (GST-Lyn/SH3) or by the
catalytic domain (GA), in the presence of lactacystin, which, as other proteasome inhibitors (e. g.
MG-132 and PS-341), can induce apoptosis in B-CLL cells, although there is a variation in the
sensitivity to treatment of the cells (58-59). Despite the loss of activity caused by the dissociation of
the complex in the presence of GA or GST-Lyn/SH3, Lyn protein level is preserved by the use of
lactacystin, confirming that CL activity is related to the stabilization of the CL complex and not to
its expression level (Figure 5).
GA-induced inactivation of CL parallels the decrease in the aberrant basal protein Tyr-
phosphorylation detectable in B-CLL lysates, indicating that CL, by contrast to microsomal Lyn, is
bound to Hsp90, and that its activity relies on the stability of the complex (Figures 6 and 7).
Instead, degradation of Lyn is a late event, involving both the cytosolic and microsomal fractions of
Lyn (Figure 6C and D).
These results highlight the prominent role played by CL in aberrant high basal protein Tyr-
phosphorylation detected in both Zap+ and Zap- B-CLL samples (Figure 6B), and seem to exclude a
correlation between apoptosis induced by Hsp90 inhibitors and ZAP-70, as is already elsewhere
reported (60). Moreover, the aberrant activation of Lyn through the interaction with specific protein
ligands appears to contribute to the pathogenesis of B-CLL and has led us to regard the proteins
stabilizing the CL complex as potential targets for a possible therapeutic approach for B-CLL.
Hence, inactivation of CL complex can be proposed as a further mediator of apoptosis, in addition
to depletion of Akt ( 46) and alteration in the expression of p53 (61) due to Hsp90 inhibition in B-
CLL, and this is corroborated by the intense work carried out in the last few years focused on
Hsp90 inhibitors (46, 54, 60-62). In addition, the interactions of the SH3 domain of SFKs could be
considered as potential targets in the development of novel drugs capable of disrupting the
interaction with protein ligands, also suggesting a new approach in the treatment of pathologic
processes in which SFKs are directly involved.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by grants from: Ministero dell’Istruzione dell’Università e della Ricerca
to A. Donella-Deana. (Prin 2005) and University of Padova to A.M. Brunati (Progetto di Ateneo
2005), A.I.R.C. (Milan) to G. Semenzato, Fondazione Berlucchi per la Ricerca sul Cancro on
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16
“Approccio clinico/biologico ai pazienti con leucemia linfatica cronica B” and by Regione Veneto
on Chronic Lymphocytic Leucemia.
Author contribution:
Livio Trentin-contributed clinical patient samples, performed some of the in vitro research,
analyzed the data and wrote parts of the manuscript.
Martina Frasson performed the majority of the in vitro research, analyzed the data and wrote parts
of the manuscript.
Arianna Donella-Deana provided intellectual input into the phosphorylation studies and reviewed
the manuscript.
Federica Fredazzo contributed clinical patient samples and performed some of the in vitro research.
Mario A. Pagano, performed some of the in vitro research and reviewed the manuscript.
Elena Tibaldi, performed some of the in vitro research.
Cristina Gattazzo, contributed clinical patient samples and performed some of the in vitro research.
Renato Zambello, contributed clinical patient samples.
Gianpietro Semenzato, provided intellectual input into the lymphocyte studies and reviewed the
manuscript.
Anna M. Brunati designed the research, reviewed all of the data, participated in analysis of data and
wrote the manuscript.
Conflict of interest discosure: All authors declare no competing financial interests.
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Legends
Figure 1. Aberrant phosphorylation state of Lyn in B-CLL. A) Schematic representation of
domain structure and functional properties of Lyn along with the two phosphorylation sites
recognized by the specific antibodies. B) Whole B cell lysates (lanes 1 and 4), microsomes (lanes 2
and 5) and cytosol (lanes 3 and 6) were assayed by Western blot analysis with anti-LDH (cytosolic
marker), anti-calnexin (microsomal marker), anti-lamin (nuclear marker) and anti-aconitase
(mitochondrial marker) antibodies. Western blots are representative of samples from 5 normal
donors (left, lanes 1-3) and of those from 10 CLL patients (right, lanes 4-6) are shown. C) Whole B
cell lysates (lanes 1 and 4), microsomes (lanes 2 and 5) and cytosol (lanes 3 and 6) from one normal
donor (lanes 1-3) and from CLL patient #15 (lanes 4-6) were analyzed by immunoblotting with
anti-pYA, anti-pYT and, after stripping, reprobed with anti-Lyn antibody. Molecular weight (kDa)
corresponding to p53 and p56 isoforms of Lyn are indicated in the middle. D) Densitometric
analysis (arbitrary units) of anti-pYA, anti-pYT and anti-Lyn bands of whole cell lysates (lanes 1 and
4), microsomes (lanes 2 and 5) and cytosol (lanes 3 and 6) from 5 normal (lanes 1-3) and 40 B-CLL
samples (lanes 4-6) is shown. Data are expressed as means ± SD from 3 separate
experiments.Whole cell lysates, microsomes and cytosol were prepared as detailed in Materials and
Methods.
Figure 2. Purification and characterization of Lyn-complex from cytosol of B-CLL. A) Cytosol
from 15 x 106 freshly isolated B-CLL cells lysed by sonication (upper panel, S) or, alternatively, by
douncing (lower panel, D) was loaded on top of a linear glycerol gradient (10-40%) and centrifuged
18 h at 100000g in a SW60Ti rotor (Beckman) at 4° C. 18 fractions (200 μL each) were collected
from top and analyzed by immunoblotting with anti-Lyn antibody. The figure is representative of
experiments performed in triplicate on samples from each of 5 B-CLL patients. B) Cytosol, from 15
x 106 freshly isolated B-CLL cells lysed by sonication, was treated without (upper panel, –
λ
PPase)
or with
λ
PPase (lower panel, +
λ
PPase), and subjected to the separation procedure described in A).
18 fractions (200 μL each) were collected from top, assayed for Lyn activity tested on Src-specific
peptide substrate cdc2(6-20), and analyzed by immunoblotting with anti-pYA antibody and, after
stripping, with anti-Lyn antibody. The figure is representative of experiments performed in
triplicate on samples from each of 40 B-CLL patients. C) Fractions 13 and 14 (CL complex) of the
cytosol purified from 75 x 106 B-CCL cells and subjected to a linear glycerol gradient under the
conditions described in A) were collected and split into 5 aliquots, which were incubated for 30 min
at 4° C in the absence (control) or presence of 0.05% SDS, 0.1
μ
M GST-Lyn/SH3, 0.1
μ
M GST-
Lyn/SH2 and 0.1
μ
M geldanamycin, respectively. The treated samples were then subjected
separately to glycerol gradient centrifugation as described in A) and aliquots of the resulting
fractions assayed for Lyn activity tested on Src-specific peptide substrate cdc2(6-20), and analyzed
by immunoblotting, with anti-Lyn antibody. The figure is representative of experiments performed
in triplicate on samples from 10 B-CLL patients. Downward arrows: position of molecular weight
standards on glycerol gradients, glutamate dehydrogenase (62 kDa), alcohol dehydrogenase (150
kDa), apoferritin (443 kDa) and thyroglobulin (669 kDa) (Sigma-Aldrich) are indicated to estimate
the molecular weight of the protein complexes on parallel gradient runs.
Figure 3. SH3 domain of cytosolic Lyn binds to HS1 and SHP-1L proteins. A) Cytosol from 15
x 106 freshly isolated B-CLL cells lysed by sonication was subjected to the separation procedure
described in figure 2A. Fractions 13 and 14 (CL complex) were collected and re-submitted to an
additional centrifugation step on a glycerol gradient. Aliquots of the gradient fractions were
analyzed by immunoblotting with anti-Lyn, anti-SHP-1/1L, anti-SHP-1, anti-HS1, anti-STAT3,
anti-Akt, anti-Cbl and anti-SHP-2 antibodies. Whole cell lysates from 2 x 105 B-CLL cells were
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23
probed with the same antibodies as positive controls. Downward arrows: position of molecular
weight standards on glycerol gradients, glutamate dehydrogenase (62 kDa), alcohol dehydrogenase
(150 kDa), apoferritin (443 kDa) and thyroglobulin (669 kDa) (Sigma-Aldrich) are indicated to
estimate the molecular weight of the protein complexes on parallel gradient runs. B) CL complex
purified after two centrifugation steps on a glycerol gradient, as described in A), was collected and
aliquots were treated for 30 min at 4o C in the absence or presence of 0.1
μ
M GST/SH3-Lyn and 0.1
μ
M Pro-rich peptide, further subjected to immunoprecipitation by anti-SHP-1/1L and anti-Lyn
antibodies, and assayed for Lyn and SHP-1/1L, respectively. C) Same fractions as in B) were
collected and aliquots were treated for 30 min at 4° C in the absence or presence of 0.1
μ
M
GST/SH3-Lyn, 0.1
μ
M HS1ΔN-term., 0.1
μ
M HS1ΔSH3, 0.1
μ
M HS1-ΔPro-rich, 0.1
μ
M Pro-rich
peptide, further subjected to immunoprecipitation by anti-HS1 and anti-Lyn antibodies, and assayed
for Lyn and HS1, respectively.
Figure 4. Hsp90 is detectable in Lyn-complex and interacts with Lyn. A) Cytosol from 15 x 106
freshly isolated B-CLL cells lysed by sonication, was subjected to the separation procedure
described in figure 2A. Fractions 13 and 14 (CL complex) were collected and re-submitted to an
additional centrifugation step on a glycerol gradient. Aliquots of the gradient fractions were
analyzed by immunoblotting with anti- Lyn and anti-Hsp90 antibodies. Downward arrows: position
of molecular weight markers on glycerol gradient. B) CL complex purified after two centrifugation
steps on a glycerol gradient, as described in A), were collected and aliquots were treated for 30 min
at 4oC in the absence or presence of 0.1
μ
M geldanamycin (GA), 0.1
μ
M 17-allylamino-17-
demethoxygeldanamycin (17-AAG), 0.1
μ
M GST/SH3-Lyn, and 0.1
μ
M Pro-rich peptide,
respectively, and further subjected to immunoprecipitation by anti-Hsp90 or anti-Lyn antibodies.
Immunoprecipitates were subsequently assayed both for Lyn and Hsp90, respectively. The figure is
representative of experiments performed in triplicate on samples from 40 B-CLL patients.
Figure 5. Stabilization of cytosolic Lyn complex by synergic cooperation of SH3 and catalytic
domains. Cytosol from freshly isolated B-CLL cells lysed by sonication was subjected to the
separation procedure described in figure 2A and treated without or with 0.1
μ
M geldanamycin
(GA), 0.1
μ
M GST/SH3-Lyn and 0.1
μ
M Pro-rich peptide, respectively, in the absence or presence
of 10
μ
M lactacystin for 1 h at 37°C. A) Aliquots of each treated sample were analyzed for in vitro
Lyn activity on Src-specific peptide substrate cdc2(6-20) and by Western blotting for Lyn. B)
Aliquots of each sample were immunoprecipitated with anti-Lyn antibody and the
immunocomplexes probed with anti-HS1, anti-SHP-1/1L, anti-Hsp90 antibodies, respectively.
Blots were then stripped and re-probed with anti-Lyn antibody. The bar graph above the blot panels
represent the values of a densitometric analysis (arbitrary units) of anti-HS1, anti-SHP-1/1L and
anti-Hsp90 bands, expressed as mean ± SD. The statistical analyses were performed by employing a
one-way ANOVA with post test, and the significance is indicated as a P value. *, P< 0.05 and **,
P< 0.001, compared with control (bar 1) Data are representative of experiments performed in
triplicate on samples from 16 B-CLL patients.
Figure 6. Analysis of Lyn activity and protein level during GA-mediated apoptosis of B-CLL
cells. Unmutated CLL/ZAP+ (U-CLL/ZAP+) and and mutated CLL/ZAP- (M-CLL/ZAP-) cells were
cultured for the indicated times, in the presence of 0.1
μ
M GA. A) After GA treatement, U-
CLL/ZAP+ and M-CLL/ZAP- cells were lysed and analyzed by immunostaining with antibodies
raised against PARP. Blots were stripped and reprobed with anti-
β
-actin antibody as loading
control. B) After GA treatment U-CLL/ZAP+ and M-CLL/ZAP- cells were lysed and analyzed by
immunostaining with antibody raised against phospho-Tyr (pY). Molecular mass of protein
standards are indicated in the middle. Blots were stripped and reprobed with anti-
β
-actin antibody
as loading control. C) and D) After GA treatment U-CLL/ZAP+ and M-CLL/ZAP- cells were lysed
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24
by sonication in an isotonic buffer and subjected to differential centrifugation to separate cytosolic
(C) and microsomal (D) fractions. Comparable aliquots were assayed for in vitro Lyn activity on
Src-specific peptide substrate cdc2(6-20) and by Western blotting for Lyn. Lyn specific activity is
calculated as ratio of Lyn activity (bar graphs) over densitometric values of western blot analysis
for Lyn (panel below bar graphs) by standardizing the ratios of each control to the value of 100. All
calculated SD values are <10%. Data are representative of experiments performed in triplicate on
samples from each of 16 B-CLL patients.
Figure 7. Monitoring of Lyn-complex degradation during GA treatment. B-CLL cells were
cultured in the presence of GA for different times, as described in Figure 6. A) Cells were lysed by
sonication in an isotonic buffer and subjected to differential centrifugation to separate microsomal
and cytosolic fractions. Cytosol underwent glycerol gradient centrifugation, as described above.
Fractions were collected from top and assayed for in vitro Lyn activity on Src-specific peptide
substrate cdc2(6-20) and by Western blotting for Lyn. B) Cytosol, isolated from B-CLL cells as in
(A), were immunoprecipitated with anti-Lyn antibody. Immunocomplexes were then probed with
anti-HS1, anti-SHP-1/1L and anti-Hsp90 respectively. Blots were then stripped and re-probed with
anti-Lyn antibody. The bar graph above the blot panels represent the values of a densitometric
analysis (arbitrary units) of anti-HS1, anti-SHP-1/1L and anti-Hsp90 bands, expressed as mean ±
SD Data are representative of 3 experiments performed with 8 B-CLL samples. C) Proposed model
for sequential binding of ligands in the assembly of the CL complex. Step 1: SH3 binding proteins
(X) can promote displacement of the PPII motif in the SH2-kinase linker from the SH3 domain,
thus inducing an “open” conformation. Step 2: Association of Hsp90 with the N-terminal lobe of
Lyn catalytic domain stabilizes the complex and maintains the kinase in an active conformation.
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Table 1 Biological and clinical characteristic of the patients
AStaging system developed by K.R. Rai (63). B“Mutated was defined as having a frequency of mutations greater than 2% from
germline VH sequence. CAs determined by immunoblot analysis on purified B cells (purity at least 98%). ND, not determined;
NEG, negative; POS, positive.
.
Patient
no.
Age Sex Rai stage
A
Wbc count
(/mm
3
) Lymphocytes
(%)
V
H
mutational
status
B
ZAP70
Expression
c
1 51 M 0 33,300 87.1 Mutated NEG
2 64 F 0 49,600 83.6 Mutated POS
3 46 F 0 25,000 74.4 Mutated NEG
4 58 F 0 37,500 84.0 Unmutated POS
5 67 M 0 18,600 82.8 Mutated ND
6 64 F I 68,900 85.5 Mutated NEG
7 72 F I 16,600 92.4 Mutated NEG
8 68 M I 29,600 81.2 Mutated NEG
9 44 F I 50,200 89.5 Mutated NEG
10 70 F I 15,200 76,3 Mutated POS
11 74 M I 17,700 68.6 Unmutated POS
12 75 F I 14,200 60.0 Unmutated POS
13 63 M I 28,800 84.0 ND NEG
14 56 M I 77,000 82.5 Mutated POS
15 49 F I 37,200 83.4 Unmutated POS
16 60 M I 11,500 77.6 Mutated POS
17 69 M I 18,500 81.5 Unmutated POS
18 74 M II 28,000 85.0 Mutated NEG
19 59 M II 156.200 75.9 ND NEG
20 65 M II 27,680 79.7 Mutated NEG
21 65 M II 142,000 80.2 Unmutated ND
22 63 M II 33,000 85.1 Unmutated POS
23 66 M III 29,700 88.6 Mutated NEG
24 60 M III 39,400 74.0 Unmutated POS
25 60 M III 73,640 88.7 Mutated NEG
26 60 M III 33,500 79.5 Mutated POS
27 68 M III 128,800 96.4 Unmutated POS
28 84 M I
V
160,500 76.1 Unmutated POS
29 80 F I
V
27,300 84.6 Mutated POS
30 77 F I
V
46,700 88.8 Mutated NEG
31 77 M I
V
120,600 79.1 Unmutated POS
32 74 F I
V
31,700 85.6 Unmutated POS
33 85 M I
V
36,800 91.6 Mutated NEG
34 63 M I
V
106,100 85.6 Mutated NEG
35 80 M I
V
41,300 87.8 Unmutated POS
36 82 M I
V
150,800 76.0 Mutated NEG
37 58 M I
V
32,800 89.0 ND NEG
38 60 M I
V
87,600 94.4 Unmutated POS
39 33 F I
V
21,700 81.6 Unmutated POS
40 64 M I
V
51,700 82.1 Mutated ND
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... However, Ibrutinib inhibited BCR positive B-ALL progression by targeting important kinases in the BCR pathway 44 . In leukemia, HSP90 has been shown to bind to LYN in B-chronic lymphoblastic leukemia (B-CLL) and the use of 17-AAG destabilized the binding of HSP90-LYN in vitro, initiating cell apoptosis 45 . ...
... HSP90 has been shown to play a protective role in the regulation of SRC family proteins, as in neutrophils increasing cell survival 75 , or in endothelial cells allowing regulation of the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 68 . HSP90 bound also to LYN in B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia 45 . In our study, through pull-down assays and treatment with an HSP90 inhibitor, we proved that the SRC kinases LCK and LYN were both clients of HSP90, in T-ALL and B-ALL cells, respectively. ...
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T-cell and B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemias (T-ALL, B-ALL) are aggressive hematological malignancies characterized by an accumulation of immature T- or B-cells. Although patient outcomes have improved, novel targeted therapies are needed to reduce the intensity of chemotherapy and improve the prognosis of high-risk patients. Using cell lines, primary cells and patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models, we demonstrate that ALL cells viability is sensitive to NVP-BEP800, an ATP-competitive inhibitor of Heat shock protein 90 (HSP90). Furthermore, we reveal that lymphocyte-specific SRC family kinases (SFK) are important clients of the HSP90 chaperone in ALL. When PDX mice are treated with NVP-BEP800, we found that there is a decrease in ALL progression. Together, these results demonstrate that the chaperoning of SFK by HSP90 is involved in the growth of ALL. These novel findings provide an alternative approach to target SRC kinases and could be used for the development of new treatment strategies for ALL.
... This multiprotein complex in turn propagates the oncogenic signals through the activation of different downstream signaling cascades, including mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase and the canonical NF-kB signaling pathways, eventually leading to the upregulation of the antiapoptotic proteins MCL1, BCL-XL and XIAP [54,55]. This scenario is further complicated by the fact that Lyn occurs in two constitutively active forms, one as a component of the above-mentioned signalosome and the other aberrantly located in the cytosol as part of a soluble complex, which contributes to massive tyrosine phosphorylation, and hence the functionality of its downstream substrates [12,56]. Importantly, few of the kinases mentioned above have been also regarded as potential therapeutic targets for CLL. ...
... In normal B cells, protein phosphatases (e.g., Src homology 2 domain-containing phosphatase 1, SHP-1) and lipid phosphatases (e.g., phosphatase and tensin homolog, PTEN) are recruited in proximity to the BCR and contribute to a feedback inhibitory circuit, dephosphorylating proximal BCR signaling intermediates such as kinases and relevant targets, thereby negatively regulating signaling [58][59][60]. Instead, in CLL there are several phosphatases that are dysregulated due to a decreased expression, including PTEN, protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor-type O truncated (PTPROt), PH domain and leucine rich repeat protein phosphatases (PHLPP1) and Src homology region 2 domain containing inositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatase 1 (SHIP1), or due to overexpression, which is the case for tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 22 (PTPN22), which has been shown to support antiapoptotic signals by positively affecting B-cell receptor-dependent signaling pathways [56][57][58][59][60]. Other phosphatases, such as serine/threonine protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) and SHP-1 are expressed to an extent similar to that observed in normal B cells, their activity being, however, downregulated by several mechanisms, which are mainly mediated by the abnormally active Lyn kinase [61,62]. ...
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The dynamic coordination between kinases and phosphatases is crucial for cell homeostasis, in response to different stresses. The functional connection between oxidation and the intracellular signaling machinery still remains to be investigated. In the last decade, several studies have highlighted the role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as modulators directly targeting kinases, phosphatases, and downstream modulators, or indirectly acting on cysteine residues on kinases/phosphatases resulting in protein conformational changes with modulation of intracellular signaling pathway(s). Translational studies have revealed the important link between oxidation and signal transduction pathways in hematological disorders. The intricate nature of intracellular signal transduction mechanisms, based on the generation of complex networks of different types of signaling proteins, revealed the novel and important role of phosphatases together with kinases in disease mechanisms. Thus, therapeutic approaches to abnormal signal transduction pathways should consider either inhibition of overactivated/accumulated kinases or homeostatic signaling resetting through the activation of phosphatases. This review discusses the progress in the knowledge of the interplay between oxidation and cell signaling, involving phosphatase/kinase systems in models of globally distributed hematological disorders.
... Fisetin acts also as an inhibitor of Src and Syk kinases, 26 and Lyn is a main prominent Src-kinase in CLL. 27,28 In this context, we observed a reduction of the basal total tyrosine phosphorylation, a hallmark of CLL cells, 27 which correlates to neoplastic clone apoptosis and to a decrease of the activity of Lyn (Figs. 4c and 4h). Fisetin negatively affected the activation state (Lyn-Tyr396) but not its proteic level. ...
... 26 In this context, we demonstrated that in CLL cells, Fisetin not only affect HSF1 with consequent reduction in HSP70 expression and apoptosis induction, but also the activation status of the Src-family kinase Lyn which is crucial in maintaining CLL B cells' survival. 27,28 As most of HSF1-phosphorylating molecules belong to two signaling pathways taking part from RAS, being the PI3K/AKT/mTOR and the RAF/MEK/ERK, we took advantage from our previous proteomic study by RPPA 3 and correlated HSP70 to different proteins related to these signaling. We demonstrated that the examined proteins behave in a different way when HSP70 is highly expressed with respect to low levels of HSP70 expression. ...
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Considering the role played by the heat shock protein of 70 kDa (HSP70) in cancer, we characterized this protein and its major regulator, the heat shock factor 1 (HSF1), in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). We found both HSP70 and HSF1 overexpressed in CLL patients, correlated to poor prognosis and abnormally localized in the nucleus of leukemic B cells. The two proteins were strictly correlated each other and their levels decreased consensually in those patients responding to in vivo therapeutic regimens. HSP70 and HSF1 inhibition was proved to be effective in inducing a dose‐dependent in vitro apoptosis of CLL B cells. Considering that HSF1 is finely regulated by kinases belonging to pathways triggered by rat sarcoma (RAS), we benefited from a previous proteomic study performed in CLL patients aiming to assess the activation/expression of key signaling proteins. We found that patients showing high levels of HSP70 also expressed high Akt‐Ser473, thus activating HSF1. Inhibition of PI3K, which activates AKT, reduced the expression of HSF1 and HSP70. By contrast, HSP70‐low patients displayed high activation of MEK1/2 and ERK1/2, known to negatively regulate HSF1. These data demonstrate that the HSP70 expression is regulated by the modulation of HSF1 activity through the activation of RAS‐regulated pathways and suggest the HSP70/HSF1 interplay as an interesting target for antileukemic therapies. Finally, inhibition of PI3K, that activates AKT, reduced the expression of HSF1 and HSP70.
... The most abundant HSP, HSP90, also shows elevated levels in various types of leukemias and lymphomas and could serve as a prognostic marker. In addition, its elevated expression is necessary for the survival and propagation of those cancer cells [16][17][18][19][20][21]. Finally, the expression of the high-molecular-weight HSP110, a longforgotten chaperone, has recently been revealed to correlate with the aggressiveness of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) [22][23][24]. ...
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Simple Summary Heat-shock proteins (HSPs) are molecular chaperones overexpressed in tumor cells and are necessary for their survival. In leukemia and lymphoma, HSPs have been reported to have unique cytoprotective effects on different cell death and growth pathways. In this review, we describe the implication of HSPs in those pathways in hematological malignancies and discuss the pertinence of detecting and targeting them for future innovative treatment strategies. Abstract Heat-shock proteins (HSPs) are powerful chaperones that provide support for cellular functions under stress conditions but also for the homeostasis of basic cellular machinery. All cancer cells strongly rely on HSPs, as they must continuously adapt to internal but also microenvironmental stresses to survive. In solid tumors, HSPs have been described as helping to correct the folding of misfolded proteins, sustain oncogenic pathways, and prevent apoptosis. Leukemias and lymphomas also overexpress HSPs, which are frequently associated with resistance to therapy. HSPs have therefore been proposed as new therapeutic targets. Given the specific biology of hematological malignancies, it is essential to revise their role in this field, providing a more adaptable and comprehensive picture that would help design future clinical trials. To that end, this review will describe the different pathways and functions regulated by HSP27, HSP70, HSP90, and, not least, HSP110 in leukemias and lymphomas.
... There is general agreement that some of the key molecules described above such as Lyn, Syk, PKC, and PI3K are constitutively active in CLL cells, resulting in tonic, ligand-independent BCR signaling [19]. Furthermore, there is substantial evidence that the main actor in this aberrant signaling network is Lyn, which, in addition to being situated beneath the plasma membrane in the close proximity of the BCR, is also found as part of a multiprotein complex aberrantly located in the cytoplasm [37], where it contributes to the phosphorylation of a myriad of substrates implicated in B cell proliferation [38], anti-apoptotic mechanisms [39], and cytoskeletal rearrangement [40,41]. Notably, it has been observed that the elevated level of phosphorylation in CLL cells can be accounted for by the impaired expression or activity of a significant number of protein or lipid phosphatases, including protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor type O (PTPROt) [42], PH Domain and Leucine Rich Repeat Protein Phosphatase 1 (PHLPP1) [43], Src homology (SH) 2 (SH2) domain containing inositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatase 1 (SHIP1 [44,45], Phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) [46,47], and Protein Phosphatase 2A (PP2A) [38,48]. ...
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Malignant cells in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) are characterized by oxidative stress that is related to abundant generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by increased mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). Lymphoid tissues have been shown to provide a protective microenvironment that antagonizes the effects of ROS, contributing to establishing redox homeostasis that supports the vitality of CLL cells. In the last few decades, a complex antioxidant machinery has been demonstrated to be activated in CLL cells, including the different superoxide dismutase (SOD) isoforms, the thioredoxin (Trx) system, and the enzyme cascade inducing glutathione (GSH) biosynthesis and recycling, to name a few. Their expression is known to be upregulated by the activation of specific transcription factors, which can be regulated by either oxidative stress or phosphorylation. These two latter aspects have mostly been explored separately, and only recently an increasing body of evidence has been providing reasonable inference that ROS and phosphorylation may cooperate in an interplay that contributes to the survival mechanisms of CLL cells. Here, we present an overview of how oxidative stress and phosphorylation-dependent signals are intertwined in CLL, focusing on transcription factors that regulate the balance between ROS production and scavenging.
... 14 Since no upregulation of Lyn messenger RNA (mRNA) expression in peripheral CLL cells was found, anomalous Lyn expression in CLL cells was presumably caused by defective protein turnover rate due to the complex formation of Lyn with other docking molecules, such as heat shock protein 90. 16 On the other hand, Lyn mRNA levels were found to be significantly increased in bone marrow CLL cells compared with healthy control cells in a small cohort. 15 This upregulation of Lyn mRNA in CLL cells was further suggested to potentially correlate with a shorter treatment-free survival in patients. ...
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The treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) has been improved dramatically by inhibitors targeting B-cell receptor (BCR)–associated kinases. The tyrosine kinase Lyn is a key modulator of BCR signaling and shows increased expression and activity in CLL. To evaluate the functional relevance of Lyn for CLL, we generated a conditional knockin mouse model harboring a gain-of-function mutation of the Lyn gene (LynY508F), which was specifically expressed in the B-cell lineage (Lynup-B). Kinase activity profiling revealed an enhanced responsiveness to BCR stimulation in Lynup-B B cells. When crossing Lynup-B mice with Eµ-TCL1 mice (TCL1tg/wt), a transgenic mouse model for CLL, the resulting TCL1tg/wt Lynup-B mice showed no significant change of hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, bone marrow infiltration, or overall survival when compared with TCL1tg/wt mice. Our data also suggested that TCL1 expression has partially masked the effect of the Lynup-B mutation, because the BCR response was only slightly increased in TCL1tg/wt Lynup-B compared with TCL1tg/wt. In contrast, TCL1tg/wt Lynup-B were protected at various degrees against spontaneous apoptosis in vitro and upon treatment with kinase inhibitors targeting the BCR. Collectively, and consistent with our previous data in a Lyn-deficient CLL model, these data lend further suggest that an increased activation of Lyn kinase in B cells does not appear to be a major driver of leukemia progression and the level of increased BCR responsiveness induced by Lynup-B is insufficient to induce clear changes to CLL pathogenesis in vivo.
... CLL is characterized by mature clonal B lymphocytes that proliferate within secondary lymphoid organs, such as bone marrow, lymph nodes, spleen, therefrom invading the peripheral blood. The survival of the neoplastic clone is supported by intrinsic defects of CLL cells, such as the activation of the B-cell receptor (BCR), the overexpression and activation of the Src kinase Lyn [8,9], Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) [10] and Bcl-2 [11] proteins, and extrinsic microenvironmental factors derived from the bone marrow or lymph nodes [12]. We and other groups previously demonstrated that bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (BMSCs), the most represented stromal cells within the bone marrow, support the survival as well as the drug resistance of CLL cells through cell-cell contacts and soluble molecules such as CXCL10, CXCL12 [13], and interleukin 6 (IL-6), the main activator of JAK2/STAT3 signaling [14]. ...
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The bone marrow microenvironment promotes proliferation and drug resistance in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Although ibrutinib is active in CLL, it is rarely able to clear leukemic cells protected by bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (BMSCs) within the marrow niche. We investigated the modulation of JAK2/STAT3 pathway in CLL by BMSCs and its targeting with AG490 (JAK2 inhibitor) or Stattic (STAT3 inhibitor). B cells collected from controls and CLL patients, were treated with medium alone, ibrutinib, JAK/Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (STAT) inhibitors, or both drugs, in the presence of absence of BMSCs. JAK2/STAT3 axis was evaluated by western blotting, flow cytometry, and confocal microscopy. We demonstrated that STAT3 was phosphorylated in Tyr705 in the majority of CLL patients at basal condition, and increased following co-cultures with BMSCs or IL-6. Treatment with AG490, but not Stattic, caused STAT3 and Lyn dephosphorylation, through re-activation of SHP-1, and triggered CLL apoptosis even when leukemic cells were cultured on BMSC layers. Moreover, while BMSCs hamper ibrutinib activity, the combination of ibrutinib+JAK/STAT inhibitors increase ibrutinib-mediated leukemic cell death, bypassing the pro-survival stimuli derived from BMSCs. We herein provide evidence that JAK2/STAT3 signaling might play a key role in the regulation of CLL-BMSC interactions and its inhibition enhances ibrutinib, counteracting the bone marrow niche.
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The molecular landscape of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) has been extensively characterized, and various potent prognostic biomarkers were discovered. The genetic composition of the B-cell receptor (BCR) immunoglobulin (IG) was shown to be especially powerful for discerning indolent from aggressive disease at diagnosis. Classification based on the IG heavy chain variable gene (IGHV) somatic hypermutation status is routinely applied. Additionally, BCR IGH stereotypy has been implicated to improve risk stratification, through characterization of subsets with consistent clinical profiles. Despite these advances, it remains challenging to predict when CLL progresses to requiring first-line therapy, thus emphasizing the need for further refinement of prognostic indicators. Signaling pathways downstream of the BCR are essential in CLL pathogenesis, and dysregulated components within these pathways impact disease progression. Considering not only genomics but the entirety of factors shaping BCR signaling activity, this review offers insights in the disease for better prognostic assessment of CLL.
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Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common leukemia in western societies, recognized by clinical and molecular heterogeneity. Despite the success of targeted therapies, acquired resistance remains a challenge for relapsed and refractory CLL, as a consequence of mutations in the target or the upregulation of other survival pathways leading to the progression of the disease. Research on proteins that can trigger such pathways may define novel therapies for a successful outcome in CLL such as the receptor tyrosine kinase‐like orphan receptor 1 (ROR1). ROR1 is a signaling receptor for Wnt5a, with an important role during embryogenesis. The aberrant expression on CLL cells and several types of tumors, is involved in cell proliferation, survival, migration as well as drug resistance. Antibody‐based immunotherapies and small‐molecule compounds emerged to target ROR1 in preclinical and clinical studies. Efforts have been made to identify new prognostic markers having predictive value to refine and increase the detection and management of CLL. ROR1 can be considered as an attractive target for CLL diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. It can be clinically effective alone and/or in combination with current approved agents. In this review, we summarize the scientific achievements in targeting ROR1 for CLL diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment.
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Signalling events downstream the B‐cell receptor (BCR) are central for the survival and progression of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) cells. Focal adhesion kinase (FAK), regulated through calpain, interacts with molecules of BCR signalling, cytoskeletal modelling and disease progression, such as Src/Lyn, cortactin and HS1. Hypothesizing that FAK might play a key role in CLL pathogenesis, we observed a down‐modulation of FAK whole form, associated with FAK cleavage due to calpain activity upon BCR stimulation. Patients, whose cells were able to release Ca⁺⁺ after BCR stimulation, had less amount of full‐length FAK, which translated into a higher presence of cleaved/activated form of the protein phosphorylated at Y397, these features being mostly shown by immunoglobulin heavy chain (IGHV)‐unmutated poor‐prognosis patients. Moreover, we found that cortactin and HS1 proteins were overexpressed in those cells, suggesting a possible interplay with FAK. Treatment with the FAK inhibitor Defactinib was able to induce apoptosis in CLL cells. In conclusion, the malignant phenotype in unfavourable‐prognosis patients seems to be encouraged by the overexpression of cortactin and HS1, that, together with FAK, may be involved in a druggable pathogenetic pathway in CLL.
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Cellular immunophenotypic studies were performed on a cohort of randomly selected IgM(+) B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) cases for which Ig V(H) and V(L) gene sequences were available. The cases were categorized based on V gene mutation status and CD38 expression and analyzed for treatment history and survival. The B-CLL cases could be divided into 2 groups. Those patients with unmutated V genes displayed higher percentages of CD38(+) B-CLL cells (>/=30%) than those with mutated V genes that had lower percentages of CD38(+) cells (<30%). Patients in both the unmutated and the >/=30% CD38(+) groups responded poorly to continuous multiregimen chemotherapy (including fludarabine) and had shorter survival. In contrast, the mutated and the <30% CD38(+) groups required minimal or no chemotherapy and had prolonged survival. These observations were true also for those patients who stratified to the Rai intermediate risk category. In the mutated and the <30% CD38(+) groups, males and females were virtually equally distributed, whereas in the unmutated and the >/=30% CD38(+) groups, a marked male predominance was found. Thus, Ig V gene mutation status and the percentages of CD38(+) B-CLL cells appear to be accurate predictors of clinical outcome in B-CLL patients. These parameters, especially CD38 expression that can be analyzed conveniently in most clinical laboratories, should be valuable adjuncts to the present staging systems for predicting the clinical course in individual B-CLL cases. Future evaluations of new therapeutic strategies and drugs should take into account the different natural histories of patients categorized in these manners.
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The presence or absence of somatic mutations in the expressed immunoglobulin heavy chain variable regions (IgVH) of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells provides prognostic information. Patients whose leukemic cells express unmutated IgVH regions (Ig-unmutated CLL) often have progressive disease, whereas patients whose leukemic cells express mutated IgVH regions (Ig-mutated CLL) more often have an indolent disease. Given the difficulty in performing IgVH sequencing in a routine diagnostic laboratory, this prognostic distinction is currently unavailable to most patients. Pilot gene expression profiling studies in patients with CLL identified genes that were differentially expressed between the Ig-unmutated and Ig-mutated CLL subtypes. Here, we have profiled an expanded cohort of 107 patients and show that ZAP-70 is the gene that best distinguishes the CLL subtypes. Ig-unmutated CLL expressed ZAP-70 5.54-fold more highly than Ig-mutated CLL (P < 10-21). ZAP-70 expression correctly predicted IgVH mutation status in 93% of patients. ZAP-70 expression and IgVH mutation status were comparable in their ability to predict time to treatment requirement following diagnosis. In 7 patients, ZAP-70 expression and IgVH mutation status were discordant: 4 Ig-mutated CLLs had high ZAP-70 expression and 3 Ig-unmutated CLLs had low ZAP-70 expression. Among these ZAP-70 "outliers," those with Ig-mutated CLL had clinical features that are uncharacteristic of this CLL subtype: 2 required early treatment and 2 used a mutated VH3-21 gene, an IgVH gene that has been associated with progressive disease. We developed reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemical assays for ZAP-70 expression that can be applied clinically and would yield important prognostic information for patients with CLL.
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A method of clinical staging of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) has been proposed which is based on the concept that CLL is a disease of progressive accumulation of nonfunctioning lymphocytes: stage O, bone marrow and blood lymphocytosis only; stage 1, lymphocytosis with enlarged nodes; stage II, lymphocytosis with enlarged spleen or liver or both; stage III, lymphocytosis with anemia; and stage IV:lymphocytosis with thrombocytopenia. Analysis of 125 patients. in the present series showed the following median survival times (in months) from diagnosis: stage 0, is greater than 150; stage I 101; stage II, 71; stage III, 19; stage IV, 19, The median survival for the entire series was 71 mo. The prognostic significance of the stage remained even after adjustment was made for age and sex. However, both sex and age were shown to be poor predictors of survival after adjustment for stage. The method of staging proved to be a reliable predictor of survival whether used at diagnosis or during the course of the disease. The proposed staging system was an equally accurate indicator for survival when applied to two other previously published studies of large series of patients
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Despite having several characteristics of naı̈ve B cells, chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells have been shown in some cases to have somatically mutated Ig variable region genes, indicating that the cell of origin has passed through the germinal center. A previous study of patients with CLL found an association between lack of somatic mutation and trisomy 12 and, therefore, possibly with a less favorable prognosis. We have sequenced the Ig VH genes of the tumor cells of 84 patients with CLL and correlated our findings with clinical features. A total of 38 cases (45.2%) showed ≥ 98% sequence homology with the nearest germline VH gene; 46 cases (54.8%) showed >2% somatic mutation. Unmutated VH genes were significantly associated with V1-69 and D3-3 usage, with atypical morphology; isolated trisomy 12, advanced stage and progressive disease. Survival was significantly worse for patients with unmutated VH genes irrespective of stage. Median survival for stage A patients with unmutated VH genes was 95 months compared with 293 months for patients whose tumors had mutated VHgenes (P = .0008). The simplest explanation is that CLL comprises 2 different diseases with different clinical courses. One, arising from a memory B cell, has a benign course, the other, arising from a naı̈ve B cell, is more malignant.
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Cellular immunophenotypic studies were performed on a cohort of randomly selected IgM+ B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) cases for which Ig VH and VL gene sequences were available. The cases were categorized based on V gene mutation status and CD38 expression and analyzed for treatment history and survival. The B-CLL cases could be divided into 2 groups. Those patients with unmutated V genes displayed higher percentages of CD38+ B-CLL cells (≥30%) than those with mutated V genes that had lower percentages of CD38+ cells (<30%). Patients in both the unmutated and the ≥30% CD38+ groups responded poorly to continuous multiregimen chemotherapy (including fludarabine) and had shorter survival. In contrast, the mutated and the <30% CD38+ groups required minimal or no chemotherapy and had prolonged survival. These observations were true also for those patients who stratified to the Rai intermediate risk category. In the mutated and the <30% CD38+ groups, males and females were virtually equally distributed, whereas in the unmutated and the ≥30% CD38+ groups, a marked male predominance was found. Thus, Ig V gene mutation status and the percentages of CD38+B-CLL cells appear to be accurate predictors of clinical outcome in B-CLL patients. These parameters, especially CD38 expression that can be analyzed conveniently in most clinical laboratories, should be valuable adjuncts to the present staging systems for predicting the clinical course in individual B-CLL cases. Future evaluations of new therapeutic strategies and drugs should take into account the different natural histories of patients categorized in these manners.
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Treatment of intact human erythrocytes with pervanadate induces Tyr (Y)-phosphorylation of the transmembrane protein band 3; in parallel, the activity of the immunoprecipitated tyrosine kinases Syk and Lyn is increased. When erythrocytes are incubated with pervanadate together with PP1, a specific inhibitor of Src kinases, including Lyn, the Y-phosphorylation of band 3 is only partially reduced. Indeed, the PP1-resistant phosphorylation of band 3 precedes and is a prerequisite for its coimmunoprecipitation with Lyn, which interacts with the phosphoprotein via the SH2 domain of the enzyme, as proven by binding competition experiments. Upon recruitment to primarily phosphorylated band 3, Lyn catalyzes the secondary phosphorylation of the transmembrane protein. These data are consistent with the view that band 3 is phosphorylated in intact erythrocytes by both PP1-resistant (most likely Syk) and PP1-inhibited (most likely Lyn) tyrosine kinases according to a sequential phosphorylation process. Similar radiolabeled peptide maps are obtained by tryptic digestion of32P-band 3 isolated from either pervanadate-treated erythrocytes or red cell membranes incubated with exogenous Syk and Lyn. It has also been demonstrated by means of mass spectrometry that the primary phosphorylation of band 3 occurs at Y8 and Y21, while the secondary phosphorylation affects Y359 and Y904.
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The tyrosine phosphatase SHP-1 functions as a negative regulator in hematopoietic cell development, proliferation, and receptor-mediated cellular activation. In Jurkat T cells, a major 68-kDa band and a minor 70-kDa band were immunoprecipitated by a monoclonal antibody against the SHP-1 protein-tyrosine phosphatase domain, while an antibody against the SHP-1 C-terminal 19 amino acids recognized only the 68-kDa SHP-1. The SDS-gel-purified 70-kDa protein was subjected to tryptic mapping and microsequencing, which was followed by molecular cloning. It revealed that the 70-kDa protein, termed SHP-1L, is a C-terminal alternatively spliced form of SHP-1. SHP-1L is 29 amino acids longer than SHP-1, and its 66 C-terminal amino acids are different from SHP-1. The C terminus of SHP-1L contains a proline-rich motif PVPGPPVLSP, a potential Src homology 3 domain-binding site. In contrast to SHP-1, tyrosine phosphorylation of SHP-1L is not detected upon stimulation in Jurkat T cells. This is apparently due to the lack of a single in vivo tyrosine phosphorylation site, which only exists in the C terminus of SHP-1 (Y564). COS cell-expressed glutathione S-transferase-SHP-1L can dephosphorylate tyrosine-phosphorylated ZAP70. At pH 7.4, SHP-1L was shown to be more active than SHP-1 in the dephosphorylation of ZAP70. At pH 5.4, SHP-1L and SHP-1 exhibited similar catalytic activity. It is likely that these two isoforms play different roles in the regulation of hematopoietic cell signal transduction.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Harvard University, 1997. Includes bibliographical references.