Little is known about the role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor-1 (VEGFR-1) in acute leukemia. In this study, using real-time PCR and ELISA, we found that VEGF and VEGFR-1 are highly expressed in U937 leukemia cells and primary leukemia cells (M4/M5 subtypes), which are associated with an increased migration rate and extramedullary disease. In order to elucidate the role of VEGFR-1 in acute leukemia, we used a lentivirus-mediated shRNA expression system to specifically inhibit VEGFR-1 expression in the U937 cell line. In addition, a series of in vitro experiments were conducted, including cell proliferation and migration assays and drug treatments. Our results showed that shRNA reduced the proliferation and migration of U937 cells. RNA interference targeting VEGFR-1 in combination with bevacizumab did not exert synergistic antitumor effects. However, shRNA enhanced the sensitivity of the U937 cells to cytarabine by decreasing the IC50 of cytarabine, reducing the number of cells in the S phase and suppressing the expression of the survivin gene. Taken together, these results suggest that VEGFR-1 interference may serve as a novel antitumor therapeutic strategy for the treatment of leukemia.
BackgroundWith the improvement of clinical treatment outcomes in diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL), the high rate of relapse in DLBCL patients is still an established barrier, as the therapeutic strategy selection based on potential targets remains unsatisfactory. Therefore, there is an urgent need in further exploration of prognostic biomarkers so as to improve the prognosis of DLBCL.MethodsThe univariable and multivariable Cox regression models were employed to screen out gene signatures for DLBCL overall survival (OS) prediction. The differential expression analysis was used to identify representative genes in high-risk and low-risk groups, respectively, where student t test and fold change were implemented. The functional difference between the high-risk and low-risk groups was identified by the gene set enrichment analysis.ResultsWe conducted a systematic data analysis to screen the candidate genes significantly associated with OS of DLBCL in three NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets. To construct a prognostic model, five genes (CEBPA, CYP27A1, LST1, MREG, and TARP) were then screened and tested using the multivariable Cox model and the stepwise regression method. Kaplan–Meier curve confirmed the good predictive performance of this five-gene Cox model. Thereafter, the prognostic model and the expression levels of the five genes were validated by means of an independent dataset. High expression levels of these five genes were significantly associated with favorable prognosis in DLBCL, both in training and validation datasets. Additionally, further analysis revealed the independent value and superiority of this prognostic model in risk prediction. Functional enrichment analysis revealed some vital pathways responsible for unfavorable outcome and potential therapeutic targets in DLBCL.ConclusionWe developed a five-gene Cox model for the clinical outcome prediction of DLBCL patients. Meanwhile, potential drug selection using this model can help clinicians to improve the clinical practice for the benefit of patients.
4121 The activation of the JAK/STAT pathway caused by the JAK2 gene mutations is an important pathogenetic mechanism of myeloproliferative neoplasm(MPN). Recently, many evidences suggest that there are factors besides the mutations of JAK2 gene participate in the pathogenesis of MPN. Suppressors of cytokine signaling (SOCS) proteins are potent inhibitors of JAK/STAT pathway, therefore we hypothesized that the down regulation of SOCS protein system may be a possible pathogenetic mechanism of MPN through the activation of the JAK/STAT pathway. In order to testify our hypothesis, we investigated mutated points, the expression and methylation status of the SOCS1, SOCS2 and SOCS3 gene in 100 MPN patients(44 polycythemia vera (PV), 38 essential thrombocythemia (ET) and 18 idiopathic myelofibrosis(MF)). We obtained some interesting results: (1) By using DNA sequence analysis, two mutations of SOCS3 were identified with in the coding region in 1 of PV patients and 1 of ET patients (2%), respectively, and both of these 2 patients are with JAK2V617F mutation.(wide type ACG, coding Threonine, alterering to mutant type AAG, coding Lysine). Furthermore, three types of nonsense mutations were identified in SOCS3:Firstly,38 (38%) mutations of SOCS3 were identified with in the coding region in 19 of PV patients,17 of ET patients and 2 of MF respectively, (wide type CCC, coding Proline, alterering to mutant type CCA, coding Proline); Secondly, 44 (44%) mutations of SOCS3 were identified with in the coding region in 21 of PV patients,18 of ET patients and 5 of MF respectively, (wide type GTA, coding Valine, alterering to mutant type GTG, coding Valine); At last, 35 (35%) mutations of SOCS3 were identified with in the coding region in 13 of PV patients,20 of ET patients and 2 of MF respectively, (wide type GAT, coding Aspartic acid, alterering to mutant type GAC, coding Aspartic acid).Five nonsense mutations were found in SOCS2: 2 of PV patients,3 of ET patients, (wide type AAT, coding Asparagine, alterering to mutant type AAC, coding Asparagine). On the contrary, the presence of JAK2V617F mutation did not affect the nonsense mutations of SOCS2 or SOCS3. (2) By using Methylation Specific PCR (MSP), SOCS1 hypermethylation was identified in 27 patients. Hypermethylation of the SOCS2 promoter was identified in 9 of 100 (9%) patients. Hypermethylation of the SOCS3 promoter was identified in 35 of 100 (35%) patients. There was no hypermethylation of the SOCS1, SOCS2 and SOCS3 gene in 173 normal controls. (3) By using semi-quantitative PCR, the RNA expression levels of SOCS1, SOCS2 and SOCS3 were also investigated. We observed hypermethylated patients had lower SOCS1 or SOCS3 mRNA levels than unmethylated MPN samples, also observed that among patients with unmethylated SOCS1 and SOCS3, mRNA expression was higher from patients carrying the JAK2V617F mutation as compared with JAK2 wild type patients. On the contrary, the presence of JAK2V617F mutation did not affect the expression of SOCS1 or SOCS3 mRNA in methylated patients. Moreover, SOCS3 transcript levels were highest in patients with polycythemia vera and other JAK2 V617F negative myeloproliferative neoplasm. (4) According to SOCS1, SOCS3 methylation was not significantly correlated with survival or other clinical variables. In conclusion, SOCS1 and SOCS3 hypermethylation can activate the JAK/STATsignaling pathway in alternative or together with JAK2 mutations. These alterations might represent a potential therapeutic target. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
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