High Expression Defines CD34+ Cells with Significant Alterations in Signal Transduction, Short-Proliferative Potential and Self-Renewal Ability

Purpose: Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) is a clonal disorder of the hematopoietic stem cell caused by expression of the oncoprotein. High levels have been associated to proliferative advantage of leukemic cells, blast crisis progression and tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) inefficacy. We have previously shown that high transcripts measured at diagnosis are associated with inferior responses to standard dose Imatinib (IM). However, the mechanisms underlying the higher rates of disease progression and development of TKIs resistance dependent on elevated levels remain unclear.

Methods: Leukemic cells were collected from CML patients showing, at diagnosis, high or low expression levels were measured using real-time PCR. Short-term culture and long-term culture-initiating cells assays were employed to investigate the role of gene-expression levels on proliferation, clonogenicity, signal transduction, TKIs responsiveness and self-renewal ability. Cell division was performed by carboxyfluorescein-succinimidyl ester (CFSE) assay.

Results: We found that oncogene expression levels correlate in both PMNs and CD34+ cells. Furthermore, high oncogene levels increased both proliferation and anti-apoptotic signaling via ERK and AKT phosphorylation. Moreover, high expression reduced the clonogenicity of leukemic CD34+ cells and increased their sensitivity to high doses IM but not to those of dasatinib. Furthermore, we observed that high levels are associated with a reduced self-renewal of primitive leukemic cells and, also, that these cells showed comparable TKIs responsiveness with cells expressing lower levels. Interestingly, we found a direct correlation between high levels and reduced number of quiescent leukemic cells caused by increasing their cycling.

Conclusion: Higher levels improving the proliferation, anti-apoptotic signaling and reducing self-renewal properties cause an increased expansion of leukemic clone.