Apoptosis repressor with caspase recruitment domain is regulated by MAPK/PI3K and confers drug resistance and survival advantage to AML.

The apoptosis repressor with caspase recruitment domain (ARC) protein is known to suppress both intrinsic and extrinsic apoptosis. We previously reported that ARC expression is a strong, independent adverse prognostic factor in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Here, we investigated the regulation and role of ARC in AML. ARC expression is upregulated in AML cells co-cultured with bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) and suppressed by inhibition of MAPK and PI3K signaling. AML patient samples with RAS mutations (N = 64) expressed significantly higher levels of ARC than samples without RAS mutations (N = 371) (P = 0.016). ARC overexpression protected and ARC knockdown sensitized AML cells to cytarabine and to agents that selectively induce intrinsic (ABT-737) or extrinsic (TNF-related apoptosis inducing ligand) apoptosis. NOD-SCID mice harboring ARC-overexpressing KG-1 cells had significantly shorter survival than mice injected with control cells (median 84 vs 111 days) and significantly fewer leukemia cells were present when NOD/SCID IL2Rγ null mice were injected with ARC knockdown as compared to control Molm13 cells (P = 0.005 and 0.03 at 2 and 3 weeks, respectively). Together, these findings demonstrate that MSCs regulate ARC in AML through activation of MAPK and PI3K signaling pathways. ARC confers drug resistance and survival advantage to AML in vitro and in vivo, suggesting ARC as a novel target in AML therapy.

Evidence for preferential effects of parathyroid hormone, calcitonin and adenosine on bone and periosteum.

In order to explore the distribution of hormone-responsive cells in skeletal tissues, we have examined the effects of synthetic bovine parathyroid hormone N-terminal peptide (bPTH 1-34) and salmon calcitonin (sCT) on cyclic AMP levels in periosteum-free rat calvaria, segments of periosteum, and in isolated cells dispersed from each tissue by collagenase digestion. Synthetic bovine PTH increased cyclic AMP levels to a greater degree in calvaria and in isolated bone cells than in the periosteal segments and cells, whereas sCT was more effective in the periosteal than in the bone systems. Primary cultures prepared from bone and periosteal cell populations exhibited progressive increases in their responsiveness to bPTH (1-34) and progressive decreases in responsiveness to sCT. After six days in the culture, bone cells failed to respond to sCT, and sCT did not modify their response simultaneously added bPTH (1-34). Six-day periosteal cell cultures exhibited residual sCT responsivity and an additive response upon simultaneous exposure to high concentrations of bPTH (1-34) and sCT suggesting separate sites of hormone action. Adenosine, a known stimulator of bone cell adenylyl cyclase, caused a greater increase in periosteal cell than in bone cell cyclic AMP. bPTH (1-34)-responsive cells which enrich periosteum-free bone may be osteoblasts, in view of their histological prominence in this tissue and in the bone cell isolates. Periosteal cells which responded to sCT and to adenosine preferentially are unidentified. Although periosteal segments contained numerous fibroblast-like cells, skin fibroblasts cultured from the same fetuses were sCT-insensitive. Growth in primary culture appears to alter the number of hormone-responsive cells or responsiveness of existing cells to each hormone, or both.

Mutations within the Autographa californica nucleopolyhedrovirus FP25K gene decrease the accumulation of ODV-E66 and alter its intranuclear transport.

Previous reports indicate that mutations within the Autographa californica nucleopolyhedrosis virus FP25K gene (open reading frame 61) significantly reduce incorporation of enveloped nucleocapsids into viral occlusions. We report that FP25K is a nucleocapsid protein of both the budded virus (BV) and occluded virus (ODV), and we describe the effects of two FP25K mutations (480-1 [N-terminal truncation] and FP-betagal [C-terminal fusion]) on the expression and cellular localization of ODV-E66 and ODV-E25. Significantly decreased amounts of ODV-E66 are detected in cells infected with 480-1 or FP-betagal viral mutants, even though during FP-betagal infection, steady-state levels of ODV-E66 transcripts remain unchanged. While ODV-E66 is normally detected in intranuclear microvesicles and ODV envelopes by 24 h postinfection (p.i.), ODV-E66 remains cytosolic throughout infection in cells infected with 480-1 virus (up to 96 h p.i.), and its intranuclear localization is not detected until 96 h p.i. in cells infected with the FP-betagal mutant virus. The nuclear localization of ODV-E25 is not affected during infection by the FP-betagal mutant; however, its trafficking is significantly delayed during infection by the 480-1 mutant. Temporal Western blot analyses of cell lysates show that both 480-1 and FP-betagal mutant virus infections result in altered accumulation patterns of several structural proteins, including gp67, BV/ODV-E26, and the major capsid protein p39. In addition to BV/ODV-E26, ODV-E66 and gp67 may interact with FP25K, and ODV-E25 and p39 may also be components of a protein complex containing ODV-E66 and FP25K. Together, these data suggest that FP25K and its associated protein complex(es) may play an important role in the targeting and intracellular transport of viral proteins during infection.

Effect of lithium on parathyroid hormone-induced calcium release from bone rudiments.

Lithium treatment of humans and animals has been associated with adverse effects on bone and mineral metabolism. In order to determine whether lithium was altering the skeletal response to parathyroid hormone, we incubated bone rudiments for 5 days in the presence or absence of the drugs. Lithium had no effect on either parathyroid hormone-induced cyclic AMP generation or 45Ca release from the bone rudiments. The data are consistent with the hypothesis that the skeletal effects of lithium are not mediated via inhibition of the parathyroid hormone-adenyl cyclase-cyclic AMP system.