BTK inhibition targets in vivo CLL proliferation through its effects on B-cell receptor signaling activity.

Bruton agammaglobulinemia tyrosine kinase (BTK), a cytoplasmic protein tyrosine kinase, is a component of the B-cell receptor signaling pathway. Ibrutinib, a BTK inhibitor, has demonstrated a significant clinical activity against chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in early clinical trials. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of action would shed light on CLL pathophysiology and provide additional opportunities for the development of new therapies. In this study, we have chosen an in vivo approach by employing an ongoing phase 1b trial of ibrutinib. We prospectively collected and analyzed serial samples from the CLL patients before and after the initiation of ibrutinib. We found that the blockage of cell proliferation was one of the primary effects of ibrutinib against leukemic CLL cells in vivo. Using a co-culture system that induces CLL proliferation in vitro, analysis of several parameters, including Ki-67 expression and bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation, revealed that the proliferation of CLL cells was directly inhibited by ibrutinib. Furthermore, activities of BTK and phospholipase Cγ2 as well as downstream signaling molecules, AKT and ERK, were all coordinately downregulated over time in ibrutinib-treated patients. Our findings suggest that the cell proliferation is one of the essential properties of CLL. Blocking cell proliferation via inhibition of BTK-mediated signaling may contribute to clinical responses in ibrutinib-treated patients.

Modeling tumor-host interactions of chronic lymphocytic leukemia in xenografted mice to study tumor biology and evaluate targeted therapy.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells depend on microenvironmental factors for proliferation and survival. In particular, the B-cell receptor (BCR) and nuclear factor- κB (NF-κB) pathways are activated in the lymph node (LN) microenvironment. Thus, model systems mimicking tumor-host interactions are important tools to study CLL biology and pathogenesis. We investigated whether the recently established NOD/scid/γc(null) (NSG) mouse xenograft model can recapitulate the effects of the human microenvironment. We assessed, therefore, tumor characteristics previously defined in LN-resident CLL cells, including proliferation, and activation of the BCR and NF-κB pathways. We found that the murine spleen (SP) microenvironment supported CLL cell proliferation and activation to a similar degree than the human LN, including induction of BCR and NF-κB signaling in the xenografted cells. Next, we used this model to study ibrutinib, a Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor in clinical development. Ibrutinib inhibited BCR and NF-κB signaling induced by the microenvironment, decreased proliferation, induced apoptosis and reduced the tumor burden in vivo. Thus, our data demonstrate that the SP of xenografted NSG mice can, in part, recapitulate the role of the human LN for CLL cells. In addition, we show that ibrutinib effectively disrupts tumor-host interactions essential for CLL cell proliferation and survival in vivo.

A novel histone deacetylase 8 (HDAC8)-specific inhibitor PCI-34051 induces apoptosis in T-cell lymphomas.

We have developed a potent, histone deacetylase 8 (HDAC8)-specific inhibitor PCI-34051 with >200-fold selectivity over the other HDAC isoforms. PCI-34051 induces caspase-dependent apoptosis in cell lines derived from T-cell lymphomas or leukemias, but not in other hematopoietic or solid tumor lines. Unlike broad-spectrum HDAC inhibitors, PCI-34051 does not cause detectable histone or tubulin acetylation. Cells defective in T-cell receptor signaling were still sensitive to PCI-34051-induced apoptosis, whereas a phospholipase C-gamma1 (PLCgamma1)-defective line was resistant. Jurkat cells showed a dose-dependent decrease in PCI-34051-induced apoptosis upon treatment with a PLC inhibitor U73122, but not with an inactive analog. We found that rapid intracellular calcium mobilization from endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and later cytochrome c release from mitochondria are essential for the apoptotic mechanism. The rapid Ca(2+) flux was dependent on PCI-34051 concentration, and was blocked by the PLC inhibitor U73122. Further, apoptosis was blocked by Ca(2+) chelators (BAPTA) and enhanced by Ca(2+) effectors (thapsigargin), supporting this model. These studies show that HDAC8-selective inhibitors have a unique mechanism of action involving PLCgamma1 activation and calcium-induced apoptosis, and could offer benefits including a greater therapeutic index for treating T-cell malignancies.

Cloning and characterization of a novel human histone deacetylase, HDAC8.

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are a growing family of enzymes implicated in transcriptional regulation by affecting the acetylation state of core histones in the nucleus of cells. HDACs are known to have key roles in the regulation of cell proliferation [Brehm, Miska, McCance, Reid, Bannister and Kouzarides (1998) Nature (London) 391, 597-600], and aberrant recruitment of an HDAC complex has been shown to be a key step in the mechanism of cell transformation in acute promyelocytic leukaemia [Grignani, De Matteis, Nervi, Tomassoni, Gelmetti, Cioce, Fanelli, Ruthardt, Ferrara, Zamir et al. (1998) Nature (London) 391, 815-818; Lin, Nagy, Inoue, Shao, Miller and Evans (1998), Nature (London) 391, 811-814]. Here we present the complete nucleotide sequence of a cDNA clone, termed HDAC8, that encodes a protein product with similarity to the RPD3 class (I) of HDACs. The predicted 377-residue HDAC8 product contains a shorter C-terminal extension relative to other members of its class. After expression in two cell systems, immunopurified HDAC8 is shown to possess trichostatin A- and sodium butyrate-inhibitable HDAC activity on histone H4 peptide substrates as well as on core histones. Expression profiling reveals the expression of HDAC8 to various degrees in every tissue tested and also in several tumour lines. Mutation of two adjacent histidine residues within the predicted active site severely decreases activity, confirming these residues as important for HDAC8 enzyme activity. Finally, linkage analysis after radiation hybrid mapping has localized HDAC8 to chromosomal position Xq21.2-Xq21.3. These results confirm HDAC8 as a new member of the HDAC family.

Binding of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone to its G-protein-coupled receptor on B-lymphocytes activates the Jak/STAT pathway.

alpha-Melanocyte-stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) is a 13-amino-acid peptide with a variety of physiological effects, including the stimulation of melanocyte proliferation and melanogenesis, temperature control, control of prolactin release and the modulation of cytokine action in the immune system. There are five known subtypes of G-protein-coupled receptors, which bind with different affinities to alpha-MSH. This paper provides evidence that Ba/F3 pro-B-lymphocyte cells express the gene for the melanocortin 5 (MC5) receptor and specifically bind alpha-MSH. Western-blot analysis reveals that alpha-MSH binding stimulates Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) and signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT1) tyrosine phosphorylation in both Ba/F3 cells and human cultured IM-9 lymphocytes. alpha-MSH is further revealed to activate JAK2 in mouse L-cells stably expressing the human MC5 receptor. Finally, alpha-MSH binding is shown to result in an enhancement of cellular proliferation. These findings identify a new protein tyrosine kinase pathway in the action of alpha-MSH, and suggest that alpha-MSH plays an important role in B-lymphocyte function via the activation of the same intracellular phosphorylation pathway used by cytokines and growth factors.

Glucagon induces a rapid and sustained phosphorylation of the human glucagon receptor in Chinese hamster ovary cells.

The glucagon receptor is a member of the G protein-coupled receptor superfamily. Since several G protein-coupled receptors undergo phosphorylation in response to agonist, we investigated the phosphorylation of the glucagon receptor following the addition of glucagon to a Chinese hamster ovary cell line expressing the human glucagon receptor (CHO/hGR). Glucagon induced a rapid, time and concentration-dependent phosphorylation of its receptor on serine residues. Neither forskolin nor phorbol ester increased receptor phosphorylation, suggesting that cAMP-dependent protein kinase and protein kinase C do not catalyze this phosphorylation event. Furthermore, two mutant cell lines expressing glucagon receptors with successively truncated receptor cytoplasmic tails were tested. A strong correlation between the number of potential phosphorylation sites, receptor phosphorylation and receptor internalization was observed, suggesting that phosphorylation of the glucagon receptor in CHO/hGR cells is functionally linked to its internalization.

Expression of rat liver AdoHcy hydrolase in a Rhodobacter capsulatus ahcY mutant restores pigment formation and photosynthetic growth.

An amino acid alignment of fourteen S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolases shows that sequences from six photosynthetic species and one species possibly derived from algae have an internal 36 to 41 amino acid sequence that is not present in hydrolase sequences from seven non-photosynthetic species. In the photosynthetic eubacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus, the StLB1 strain has a disrupted hydrolase gene, and hydrolase activity is not detectable. Photopigment synthesis and photosynthetic growth are significantly reduced in the StLB1 strain. Introduction of rat hydrolase cDNA into the StLB1 strain restored hydrolase activity, photopigment synthesis and photosynthetic growth. The results show that the 36 amino acid sequence of Rhodobacter capsulatus S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase does not have a photosynthesis specific function.

Nucleotide sequence and characterization of the Rhodobacter capsulatus hvrB gene: HvrB is an activator of S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine hydrolase expression and is a member of the LysR family.

Here we present the nucleotide sequence and characterization of two genes, hvrB and orf5, that are located in the regulatory gene cluster from Rhodobacter capsulatus. The hvrB gene, which encodes a protein with a predicted molecular mass of 32 kDa, is shown to be highly homologous to genes encoding members of the LysR family of bacterial transcriptional regulators. A chromosomal disruption of hvrB is shown to result in the failure to regulate expression from the nearby ahcY and orf5 genes in response to alterations in light intensity. We show by primer extension mapping that the 5' end of ahcY-specific mRNA defines a promoter region exhibiting sequence similarity to known R. capsulatus promoter elements. Our mutational analysis further demonstrates that hvrB autoregulates its own expression in vivo.