Chronic myeloid leukaemia stem cells present an aberrant gene expression signature that is not affected by tyrosine kinase inhibitors
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ABSTRACT: Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) revolutionised the treatment of CML at the beginning of the century. However, TKI do not eliminate the leukaemia stem cells, which can reinitiate the disease upon treatment withdrawal. Thus, finding new therapeutic targets in CML stem cells is key to find a curative treatment. Using microarray datasets, we defined a list of 227 genes which were differentially expressed in CML stem cells compared to healthy controls but were not affected by TKI. Two of them, CD33 and PPIF, are targeted by gemtuzumab-ozogamicin and cyclosporin A, respectively. We treated CML and control CD34+ cells with either drug with or without imatinib to investigate the therapeutic potential of the TKI independent gene expression signature. Cyclosporine A in combination with imatinib reduced the number of CML CFC compared with non-CML controls, but at concentrations not achievable in the clinical practice. Gemtuzumab-ozogamicin showed a EC50 of 146ng/mL, well below the plasma peak concentration of 630ng/mL observed in AML patients and below the EC50 of 3247ng/mL observed in non-CML cells. Interestingly, gemtuzumab-ozogamicin seems to promote cell cycle progression in CML CD34+ cells and we found it to activate the RUNX1 pathway in a RNAseq experiment. This suggests that targeting the tyrosine kinase inhibitor independent gene expression signature in CML stem cells could be exploited for the development of new therapies in CML.
ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens
PROVIDER: GSE198576 | GEO | 2022/11/14
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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