NFATC1 activation by DNA hypomethylation in chronic lymphocytic leukemia correlates with clinical staging and can be inhibited by ibrutinib.
Christine WolfAngela GardingKatharina FilarskyJasmin BahloSandra RobrechtNatalia BeckerManuela ZucknickArefeh RouhiAnja WeigelRainer ClausDieter WeichenhanBarbara EichhorstKirsten FischerMichael HallekFlorian KuchenbauerChristoph PlassHartmut DöhnerStephan StilgenbauerPeter LichterDaniel MertensPublished in: International journal of cancer (2017)
B cell receptor (BCR) signaling is a key for survival of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells, and BCR signaling inhibitors are clinically active. However, relapse and resistance to treatment require novel treatment options. To detect novel candidate therapeutic targets, we performed a genome-wide DNA methylation screen with custom arrays and identified aberrant promoter DNA methylation in 2,192 genes. The transcription factor NFATC1 that is a downstream effector of BCR signaling was among the top hypomethylated genes and was concomitantly transcriptionally upregulated in CLL. Intriguingly, NFATC1 promoter DNA hypomethylation levels were significantly variant in clinical trial cohorts from different disease progression stages and furthermore correlated with Binet disease staging and thymidine kinase levels, strongly suggesting a central role of NFATC1 in CLL development. Functionally, DNA hypomethylation at NFATC1 promoter inversely correlated with RNA levels of NFATC1 and dysregulation correlated with expression of target genes BCL-2, CCND1 and CCR7. The inhibition of the NFAT regulator calcineurin with tacrolimus and cyclosporin A and the BCR signaling inhibitor ibrutinib significantly reduced NFAT activity in leukemic cell lines, and NFAT inhibition resulted in increased apoptosis of primary CLL cells. In summary, our results indicate that the aberrant activation of NFATC1 by DNA hypomethylation and BCR signaling plays a major role in the pathomechanism of CLL.
Keyphrases
- chronic lymphocytic leukemia
- dna methylation
- genome wide
- transcription factor
- acute lymphoblastic leukemia
- tyrosine kinase
- gene expression
- circulating tumor
- cell cycle arrest
- clinical trial
- induced apoptosis
- chronic myeloid leukemia
- cell free
- single molecule
- lymph node
- endoplasmic reticulum stress
- poor prognosis
- oxidative stress
- copy number
- dendritic cells
- genome wide identification
- cell death
- randomized controlled trial
- high throughput
- signaling pathway
- study protocol
- pi k akt
- double blind
- single cell
- free survival
- phase iii