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Interleukin 4 induces apoptosis of acute myeloid leukemia cells in a Stat6-dependent manner.

ABSTRACT: Cytokines provide signals that regulate immature normal and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells in the bone marrow microenvironment. We here identify interleukin 4 (IL4) as a selective inhibitor of AML cell growth and survival in a cytokine screen using fluorescently labeled AML cells. RNA-sequencing of the AML cells revealed an IL4-induced upregulation of Stat6 target genes and enrichment of apoptosis-related gene expression signatures. Consistent with these findings, we found that IL4 stimulation of AML cells induced Stat6 phosphorylation and that disruption of Stat6 using CRISPR/Cas9-genetic engineering rendered cells partially resistant to IL4-induced apoptosis. To evaluate whether IL4 inhibits AML cells in vivo, we expressed IL4 ectopically in AML cells transplanted into mice and also injected IL4 into leukemic mice; both strategies resulted in the suppression of the leukemia cell burden and increased survival. Notably, IL4 exposure caused reduced growth and survival of primary AML CD34+CD38- patient cells from several genetic subtypes of AML, whereas normal stem and progenitor cells were less affected. The IL4-induced apoptosis of AML cells was linked to Caspase-3 activation. Our results demonstrate that IL4 selectively induces apoptosis of AML cells in a Stat6-dependent manner-findings that may translate into new therapeutic opportunities in AML.

SUBMITTER: Pena-Martinez P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5843897 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Interleukin 4 induces apoptosis of acute myeloid leukemia cells in a Stat6-dependent manner.

Peña-Martínez P P Eriksson M M Ramakrishnan R R Chapellier M M Högberg C C Orsmark-Pietras C C Richter J J Andersson A A Fioretos T T Järås M M

Leukemia 20170818 3

Cytokines provide signals that regulate immature normal and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells in the bone marrow microenvironment. We here identify interleukin 4 (IL4) as a selective inhibitor of AML cell growth and survival in a cytokine screen using fluorescently labeled AML cells. RNA-sequencing of the AML cells revealed an IL4-induced upregulation of Stat6 target genes and enrichment of apoptosis-related gene expression signatures. Consistent with these findings, we found that IL4 stimulati ...[more]

PMID: 28819278

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Project description:Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is associated with poor prognosis, and there is a strong need to develop new therapeutic strategies to improve treatments. We performed a cytokine screen with 114 recombinant proteins to identify selective negative regulators of primitive murine AML cells relative to normal bone marrow cells. The top candidate identified was interleukin 4 (IL4), as it showed the most selective inhibition of leukemia cell growth. Stimulating leukemia cells ex vivo with IL4 and transplanting the cells into mice resulted in reduced leukemia burden and prolonged survival compared with controls. In contrast, IL4 did not inhibit the function of normal hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in long-term bone marrow repopulation assays. Moreover, we found that IL4 treatment of leukemia cells induced Stat6 phosphorylation, and that leukemia cells with Stat6 knocked out using CRISPR/Cas9-genetic engineering were partially resistant to IL4 stimulation, revealing Stat6 as a critical mediator of the IL4 effect. To evaluate whether IL4 has in vivo therapeutic efficacy, we expressed IL4 ectopically in leukemia cells in vivo and also injected IL4 into leukemic mice; both strategies resulted in the suppression of the leukemia cell burden and increased survival. Further analysis revealed that IL4 treatment induces apoptosis in the leukemia cells. Importantly, IL4 exposure also inhibited the growth and survival of primary AML patient cells. In summary, these findings demonstrate that IL4 selectively inhibits AML cells in a Stat6-dependent manner, thus revealing IL4 as a candidate therapeutic agent in AML. IL4 (ProSpec, East Brunswick NJ, USA) was resuspended following the provider guidelines and stored in aliquotes at -80 °C. Mouse MLL-AF9 leukemia cells were provided by Dr. Benjamin Ebert (Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston MA, USA). The murine leukemia cells were cultured in SFEM (StemCell Tech) supplemented with 1% penicillin/streptomycin at 37 °C with 5% CO2.

Dataset Information

Interleukin 4 induces apoptosis of acute myeloid leukemia cells in a Stat6-dependent manner.

Publications

Interleukin 4 induces apoptosis of acute myeloid leukemia cells in a Stat6-dependent manner.

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