High concordance of genomic and cytogenetic aberrations between peripheral blood and bone marrow in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS).

Bone marrow (BM) genetic abnormalities in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) have provided important biological and prognostic information; however, frequent BM sampling in older patients has been associated with significant morbidity. Utilizing single-nucleotide polymorphism array (SNP-A) and targeted gene sequencing (TGS) of 24 frequently mutated genes in MDS, we assessed the concordance of genetic abnormalities in BM and peripheral blood (PB) samples concurrently from 201 MDS patients. SNP-A karyotype in BM was abnormal in 108 (54%) and normal in 93 (46%) patients, with 95% (190/201) having an identical PB karyotype. The median copy number (CN) for deletions was significantly lower in BM (CN:1.4 (1-1.9)) than in PB (CN:1.5 (1-1.95), P<0.001). Using TGS, 71% (130/183) patients had BM somatic mutations with 95% (124/130) having identical mutations in PB. The mutant allele burden was lower in PB (median 27% (1-96%)) compared with BM (median 29% (1-100%); P=0.14) with no significant difference in the number, types of mutations or World Health Organization subtype. In all patients with discordant SNP (n=11) and mutation (n=6) profiles between BM and PB, shared abnormalities were always present irrespective of treatment status. Overall, 86% of patients had a clonal aberration with 95% having identical SNP-A karyotype and mutations in PB, thus enabling frequent assessment of response to treatment and disease evolution especially in patients with fibrotic or hypocellular marrows.

Reducing MCM levels in human primary T cells during the G(0)-->G(1) transition causes genomic instability during the first cell cycle.

DNA replication is tightly regulated, but paradoxically there is reported to be an excess of MCM DNA replication proteins over the number of replication origins. Here, we show that MCM levels in primary human T cells are induced during the G(0)-->G(1) transition and are not in excess in proliferating cells. The level of induction is critical as we show that a 50% reduction leads to increased centromere separation, premature chromatid separation (PCS) and gross chromosomal abnormalities typical of genomic instability syndromes. We investigated the mechanisms involved and show that a reduction in MCM levels causes dose-dependent DNA damage involving activation of ATR & ATM and Chk1 & Chk2. There is increased DNA mis-repair by non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) and both NHEJ and homologous recombination are necessary for Mcm7-depleted cells to progress to metaphase. Therefore, a simple reduction in MCM loading onto DNA, which occurs in cancers as a result of aberrant cell cycle control, is sufficient to cause PCS and gross genomic instability within one cell cycle.

Cyclolinopeptide A (CLA) mediates its immunosuppressive activity through cyclophilin-dependent calcineurin inactivation.

The immunosuppressive cyclic nonapeptide cyclolinopeptide A inhibits calcium-dependent, but not calcium-independent, activation of T lymphocytes comparably to the actions of cyclosporin A and FK506. The concentration required for complete inhibition, however, is 10 times higher than that of cyclosporin A. In addition, we demonstrate that calcineurin, a phosphatase which plays an important role in T lymphocyte signalling, is inhibited in vitro by cyclolinopeptide A by a mechanism dependent on the peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase (PPIase) cyclophilin A but not FKBP12. Direct binding of cyclolinopeptide A to cyclophilin A was confirmed using tryptophan fluorescence studies and PPIase assays. These results represent a third example of the production of a natural product that neutralises calcineurin by a mechanism dependent on the primary binding to a PPIase.