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AML-induced osteogenic differentiation in mesenchymal stromal cells supports leukemia growth
V. Lokesh Battula, Phuong M. Le, Jeffrey C. Sun, Khoa Nguyen, Bin Yuan, Ximin Zhou, Sonali Sonnylal, Teresa McQueen, Vivian Ruvolo, Keith A. Michel, Xiaoyang Ling, Rodrigo Jacamo, Elizabeth Shpall, Zhiqiang Wang, Arvind Rao, Gheath Al-Atrash, Marina Konopleva, R. Eric Davis, Melvyn A. Harrington, Catherine W. Cahill, Carlos Bueso-Ramos, Michael Andreeff
V. Lokesh Battula, Phuong M. Le, Jeffrey C. Sun, Khoa Nguyen, Bin Yuan, Ximin Zhou, Sonali Sonnylal, Teresa McQueen, Vivian Ruvolo, Keith A. Michel, Xiaoyang Ling, Rodrigo Jacamo, Elizabeth Shpall, Zhiqiang Wang, Arvind Rao, Gheath Al-Atrash, Marina Konopleva, R. Eric Davis, Melvyn A. Harrington, Catherine W. Cahill, Carlos Bueso-Ramos, Michael Andreeff
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Research Article Bone biology Stem cells

AML-induced osteogenic differentiation in mesenchymal stromal cells supports leukemia growth

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Abstract

Genotypic and phenotypic alterations in the bone marrow (BM) microenvironment, in particular in osteoprogenitor cells, have been shown to support leukemogenesis. However, it is unclear how leukemia cells alter the BM microenvironment to create a hospitable niche. Here, we report that acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells, but not normal CD34+ or CD33+ cells, induce osteogenic differentiation in mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs). In addition, AML cells inhibited adipogenic differentiation of MSCs. Mechanistic studies identified that AML-derived BMPs activate Smad1/5 signaling to induce osteogenic differentiation in MSCs. Gene expression array analysis revealed that AML cells induce connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) expression in BM-MSCs irrespective of AML type. Overexpression of CTGF in a transgenic mouse model greatly enhanced leukemia engraftment in vivo. Together, our data suggest that AML cells induce a preosteoblast-rich niche in the BM that in turn enhances AML expansion.

Authors

V. Lokesh Battula, Phuong M. Le, Jeffrey C. Sun, Khoa Nguyen, Bin Yuan, Ximin Zhou, Sonali Sonnylal, Teresa McQueen, Vivian Ruvolo, Keith A. Michel, Xiaoyang Ling, Rodrigo Jacamo, Elizabeth Shpall, Zhiqiang Wang, Arvind Rao, Gheath Al-Atrash, Marina Konopleva, R. Eric Davis, Melvyn A. Harrington, Catherine W. Cahill, Carlos Bueso-Ramos, Michael Andreeff

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Figure 5

BMP signaling mediates AML-induced osteogenic differentiation and induces CTGF expression in MSCs.

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BMP signaling mediates AML-induced osteogenic differentiation and induce...
(A) Immunoblotting was used to detect total and phosphorylated Smad1/5 in MSCs cultured with or without OCI-AML3–conditioned medium at indicated time points. (B) Immunoblotting also was used to detect total and pSmad1/5 in MSCs cultured with or without AML-CM in the presence or absence of type-1 BMP inhibitor LDN-212854 at indicated concentrations. β-Tubulin and β-actin served as loading controls. Data shown are representative of 3 independent experiments. (C) N-MSCs (2 × 105) were cultured in OCI-AML3–conditioned medium (OCI-AML3) with or without LDN-212854 for 5 days. mRNA expression of osteoprogenitor-associated genes, RUNX2, osterix, and osteopontin, in the N-MSCs was measured by qRT-PCR. GAPDH served as an equal loading control. (D) Subtracted heatmap of change in microarray-based gene expression by BM-MSCs from in vivo exposure to different AML genotypes. Genes selected were those in which at least two of the genotype samples differed from control MSCs by at least 8-fold. The color bar shows the fold increase from normal MSC. Genes upregulated by all AML genotypes are expanded to the right. (E) N-MSCs were cocultured with or without OCI-AML3 cells for 5 days. After incubation, the N-MSCs were isolated by FACS, and total RNA was extracted from these cells. CTGF mRNA expression was analyzed by qRT-PCR (n = 2). (F) N-MSCs were cultured in the presence or absence of OCI-AML3–conditioned medium with or without LDN-212854 for 5 days. CTGF mRNA expression was measured by qRT-PCR. One-way ANOVA was used for comparisons of 3 or more groups and unpaired Student’s t test was used for comparisons of 2 groups (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 versus control). Tukey’s multiple comparison test was also performed for multiple data sets.

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