The importance of microenvironmental factors for driving progression in leukemia has been debated.

Lysine is catabolized in mammals through the saccharopine and pipecolate pathways - the former is mainly hepatic and renal, and the latter is believed to play a role in the cerebral lysine oxidation. Both pathways lead to the formation of aminoadipic semialdehyde (AASA) that is then oxidized to aminoadipate (AAA) by antiquitin (ALDH7A1). Mutations in the ALDH7A1 gene result in the accumulation of AASA and its cyclic form, piperideine-6-carboxylate (P6C), which causes pyridoxine-dependent epilepsy (PDE). P6C reacts with pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) causing its inactivation. Here, we used liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry to investigate lysine catabolism in mice injected with lysine labelled at either its nitrogen epsilon (ε-N) or nitrogen alpha (α-N). Analysis of ε-N and α-N lysine catabolites in plasma, liver and brain suggested the saccharopine as the main pathway for AAA biosynthesis. Although there was evidence for upstream cerebral pipecolate pathway activity, the resulting pipecolate does not appear to be further oxidized into AASA/P6C/AAA. By far the bulk of lysine degradation and therefore, the primary source of lysine catabolites are hepatic and renal. The results indicate that the saccharopine pathway is primarily responsible for body's production of AASA/P6C. The centrality of the saccharopine pathway in whole body lysine catabolism opens new possibilities of therapeutic targets for PDE. We suggest that inhibition of this pathway upstream of AASA/P6C synthesis may be used to prevent its accumulation benefiting PDE patients. Inhibition of the enzyme aminoadipic semialdehyde synthase, for example, could constitute a new strategy to treat PDE and other inherited diseases of lysine catabolism.

The leukemic BM microenvironment had increased levels of CCL2 and IL-8. These chemokines are known to have suppressive effects in normal hematopoiesis. Our data indicate that CCL2 and IL-8 have a positive impact on BMMSC survival, proliferation, and adhesiveness to ALL cells. Leukemia-associated CCL2 and IL-8 upregulation may represent one possible mechanism of microenvironment perversion in favor of ALL cells.

Dysregulation of pre-mRNA splicing machinery activity has been related to the biogenesis of several diseases. The serine/arginine-rich protein kinase family (SRPKs) plays a critical role in regulating pre-mRNA splicing events through the extensive phosphorylation of splicing factors from the family of serine/arginine-rich proteins (SR proteins). Previous investigations have described the overexpression of SRPK1 and SRPK2 in leukemia and other cancer types, suggesting that they would be useful targets for developing novel antitumor strategies. Herein, we evaluated the effect of selective pharmacological SRPK inhibition by N-(2-(piperidin-1-yl)-5-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)isonicotinamide (SRPIN340) on the viability of lymphoid and myeloid leukemia cell lines. Along with significant cytotoxic activity, the effect of treatments in regulating the phosphorylation of the SR protein family and in altering the expression of MAP2K1, MAP2K2, VEGF and FAS genes were also assessed. Furthermore, we found that pharmacological inhibition of SRPKs can trigger early and late events of apoptosis. Finally, intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence emission, molecular docking and molecular dynamics were analyzed to gain structural information on the SRPK/SRPIN340 complex. These data suggest that SRPK pharmacological inhibition should be considered as an alternative therapeutic strategy for fighting leukemias. Moreover, the obtained SRPK-ligand interaction data provide useful structural information to guide further medicinal chemistry efforts towards the development of novel drug candidates.