bims-scepro 2024-10-20 papers

bims-scepro

Biomed News

on Stem cell proteostasis

Issue of 2024‒10‒20
twenty papers selected by
William Grey, University of York

The evolving hematopoietic niche during development.
YTHDC1-mediated microRNA maturation is essential for hematopoietic stem cells maintenance.
A distinct metabolic and epigenetic state drives trained immunity in HSC-derived macrophages from autoimmune mice.
Defective ribosome assembly impairs leukemia progression in a murine model of acute myeloid leukemia.
Development of human innate immune responses in a humanized mouse model expressing four human myelopoiesis transgenes.
Targeting rapid TKI-induced AXL upregulation overcomes adaptive ERK reactivation and exerts antileukemic effects in FLT3/ITD acute myeloid leukemia.
Fetal Liver-like Organoids Recapitulate Blood-Liver Niche Development and Multipotent Hematopoiesis from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells.
Venetoclax triggers sublethal apoptotic signaling in venetoclax-resistant acute myeloid leukemia cells and induces vulnerability to PARP inhibition and azacitidine.
High-fidelity PAMless base editing of hematopoietic stem cells to treat chronic granulomatous disease.
Phosphoproteomic Analysis of Signaling Pathways in Lymphomas.
Mutant NPM1 marginally impacts ribosome footprint in acute myeloid leukemia cells.
Anagrelide and idarubicin combination induces GSDME-mediated pyroptosis as a potential therapy for high-PDE3A acute myeloid leukemia.
New horizons in our understanding of precursor multiple myeloma and early interception.
Acute myeloid leukemia: does sex matter?
O-GlcNAcylation of ribosome-associated proteins is concomitant with translational reprogramming during proteotoxic stress.
Multi-omic analysis of longitudinal acute myeloid leukemia patient samples reveals potential prognostic markers linked to disease progression.
Autophagy and inflammasome activation are associated with poor response to FLT3 inhibitors in patients with FLT3-ITD acute myeloid leukemia.
Mitophagy as a guardian against cellular aging.
miR‑1343‑3p inhibits autophagy by directly targeting ATG7 in multiple myeloma cells.
Peroxisomal import stress activates integrated stress response and inhibits ribosome biogenesis.

Front Mol Biosci. 2024 ;11 1488199

The evolving hematopoietic niche during development.

Raúl Sánchez-Lanzas, Amanda Jiménez-Pompa, Miguel Ganuza.

  Mammalian hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) emerge from the hemogenic endothelium in the major embryonic arteries. HSCs undergo a complex journey first migrating to the fetal liver (FL) and from there to the fetal bone marrow (FBM), where they mostly remain during adult life. In this process, a pool of adult HSCs is produced, which sustains lifelong hematopoiesis. Multiple cellular components support HSC maturation and expansion and modulate their response to environmental and developmental cues. While the adult HSC niche has been extensively studied over the last two decades, the niches present in the major embryonic arteries, FL, FBM and perinatal bone marrow (BM) are poorly described. Recent investigations highlight important differences among FL, FBM and adult BM niches and emphasize the important role that inflammation, microbiota and hormonal factors play regulating HSCs and their niches. We provide a review on our current understanding of these important cellular microenvironments across ontogeny. We mainly focused on mice, as the most widely used research model, and, when possible, include relevant insights from other vertebrates including birds, zebrafish, and human. Developing a comprehensive picture on these processes is critical to understand the earliest origins of childhood leukemia and to achieve multiple goals in regenerative medicine, such as mimicking HSC development in vitro to produce HSCs for broad transplantation purposes in leukemia, following chemotherapy, bone marrow failure, and in HSC-based gene therapy.

Keywords:  aorta-gonad-mesonephros; bone marrow; developmental hematopoiesis; fetal liver; hematopoietic niches; hematopoietic stem cells

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fmolb.2024.1488199
Cell Death Discov. 2024 Oct 16. 10(1): 439

YTHDC1-mediated microRNA maturation is essential for hematopoietic stem cells maintenance.

Hongna Zuo, Jin Liu, Bin Shen, Yue Sheng, Zhenyu Ju, Hu Wang.

YTHDC1, a reader of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modifications on RNA, is posited to exert significant influence over RNA metabolism. Despite its recognized importance, the precise function and underlying mechanisms of YTHDC1 in the preservation of normal hematopoietic stem cell (HSCs) homeostasis remain elusive. Here, we investigated the role of YTHDC1 in normal hematopoiesis and HSCs maintenance in vivo. Utilizing conditional Ythdc1 knockout mice and Ythdc1/Mettl3 double knockout mice, we demonstrated that YTHDC1 is required for HSCs maintenance and self-renewal by regulating microRNA maturation. YTHDC1 deficiency resulted in HSCs apoptosis. Furthermore, we uncovered that YTHDC1 interacts with HP1BP3, a nuclear RNA binding protein involved in microRNA maturation. Deletion of YTHDC1 brought about significant alterations in microRNA levels. However, over-expression of mir-125b, mir-99b, and let-7e partially rescued the functional defect of YTHDC1-null HSCs. Taken together, these findings indicated that the nuclear protein YTHDC1-HP1BP3-microRNA maturation axis is essential for the long-term maintenance of HSCs.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41420-024-02203-z
Cell Stem Cell. 2024 Oct 14. pii: S1934-5909(24)00324-2. [Epub ahead of print]

A distinct metabolic and epigenetic state drives trained immunity in HSC-derived macrophages from autoimmune mice.

Taylor S Mills, Bailee Kain, Matt A Burchill, Etienne Danis, Erin D Lucas, Rachel Culp-Hill, Courtney M Cowan, Wolfgang E Schleicher, Sweta B Patel, Brandon T Tran, Ruoqiong Cao, Andrew Goodspeed, Sarah Ferrara, Shaun Bevers, Beth A Jirón Tamburini, James R Roede, Angelo D'Alessandro, Katherine Y King, Eric M Pietras.

  Here, we investigate the contribution of long-term hematopoietic stem cells (HSCsLT) to trained immunity (TI) in the setting of chronic autoimmune disease. Using a mouse model of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), we show that bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) from autoimmune mice exhibit hallmark features of TI, including increased Mycobacterium avium killing and inflammatory cytokine production, which are mechanistically linked to increased glycolytic metabolism. We show that HSCs from autoimmune mice constitute a transplantable, long-term reservoir for macrophages that exhibit the functional properties of TI. However, these BMDMs exhibit reduced glycolytic activity and chromatin accessibility at metabolic genes while retaining elevated expression of TI-associated transcriptional regulators. Hence, HSC exposed to autoimmune inflammation can give rise to macrophages in which the functional and metabolic properties of TI are decoupled. Our data support a model in which TI is characterized by a spectrum of molecular and metabolic states driving augmented immune function.

Keywords:  autoimmune disease; bone marrow-derived macrophage; hematopoietic stem cell; inflammation; metabolism; trained immunity

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2024.09.010
Cell Rep. 2024 Oct 15. pii: S2211-1247(24)01215-4. [Epub ahead of print]43(11): 114864

Defective ribosome assembly impairs leukemia progression in a murine model of acute myeloid leukemia.

Daniel Sjövall, Sudip Ghosh, Narcis Fernandez-Fuentes, Talia Velasco-Hernandez, Anna Hogmalm, Pablo Menendez, Jenny Hansson, Carolina Guibentif, Pekka Jaako.

  Despite an advanced understanding of disease mechanisms, the current therapeutic regimen fails to cure most patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). In the present study, we address the role of ribosome assembly in leukemia cell function. We apply patient datasets and murine models to demonstrate that immature leukemia cells in mixed-lineage leukemia-rearranged AML are characterized by relatively high ribosome biogenesis and protein synthesis rates. Using a model with inducible regulation of ribosomal subunit joining, we show that defective ribosome assembly extends survival in mice with AML. Single-cell RNA sequencing and proteomic analyses reveal that leukemia cell adaptation to defective ribosome assembly is associated with an increase in ribosome biogenesis and deregulation of the transcription factor landscape. Finally, we demonstrate that defective ribosome assembly shows antileukemia efficacy in p53-deficient AML. Our study unveils the critical requirement of a high protein synthesis rate for leukemia progression and highlights ribosome assembly as a therapeutic target in AML.

Keywords:  AML; CP: Cancer; MLL; eIF6; leukemia; leukemia stem cell; mRNA translation; protein synthesis; ribosome; scRNA-seq

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114864
Front Immunol. 2024 ;15 1419117

Development of human innate immune responses in a humanized mouse model expressing four human myelopoiesis transgenes.

Hannah Stocks, Elisabeth De Leeuw, Bart N Lambrecht, Linos Vandekerckhove, Geert van Loo, Andy Wullaert.

  Background: Dysregulated innate immune responses underlie multiple inflammatory diseases, but clinical translation of preclinical innate immunity research in mice is hampered by the difficulty of studying human inflammatory reactions in an in vivo context. We therefore sought to establish in vivo human inflammatory responses in NSG-QUAD mice that express four human myelopoiesis transgenes to improve engraftment of a human innate immune system.Methods: We reconstituted NSG-QUAD mice with human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs), after which we evaluated human myeloid cell development and subsequent human responses to systemic and local lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenges.
Results: NSG-QUAD mice already displayed engraftment of human monocytes, dendritic cells and granulocytes in peripheral blood, spleen and liver at 6 weeks after HSPC reconstitution, in which both classical, intermediate and non-classical monocytes were present. These huNSG-QUAD mice responded to intraperitoneal and intranasal LPS challenges with production of NF-κB-dependent human cytokines, a human type I interferon response, as well as inflammasome-mediated production of human IL-1β and IL-18. The latter were specifically abrogated by the NLRP3 inhibitor MCC950, while LPS-induced human monocyte death was not altered. Besides providing proof-of-principle for small molecule testing of human inflammatory reactions in huNSG-QUAD mice, this observation suggests that LPS-induced in vivo release of human NLRP3 inflammasome-generated cytokines occurs in a cell death-independent manner.
Conclusion: HuNSG-QUAD mice are competent for the NF-κB, interferon and inflammasome effectors of human innate immunity, and can thus be utilized to investigate signaling mechanisms and pharmacological targeting of human inflammatory responses in an in vivo setting.

Keywords:  cytokines; humanized mice; inflammasome; innate immunity; myeloid cells

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2024.1419117
Mol Oncol. 2024 Oct 12.

Targeting rapid TKI-induced AXL upregulation overcomes adaptive ERK reactivation and exerts antileukemic effects in FLT3/ITD acute myeloid leukemia.

Tessa S Seale, Li Li, J Kyle Bruner, Melody Chou, Bao Nguyen, Jaesung Seo, Ruiqi Zhu, Mark J Levis, Christine A Pratilas, Donald Small.

  Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients with the FMS-related receptor tyrosine kinase 3 internal tandem duplication (FLT3/ITD) mutation have a poorer prognosis, and treatment with FLT3 tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) has been hindered by resistance mechanisms. One such mechanism is known as adaptive resistance, in which downstream signaling pathways are reactivated after initial inhibition. Past work has shown that FLT3/ITD cells undergo adaptive resistance through the reactivation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling within 24 h of sustained FLT3 inhibition. We investigated the mechanism(s) responsible for this ERK reactivation and hypothesized that targeting tyrosine-protein kinase receptor UFO (AXL), another receptor tyrosine kinase that has been implicated in cancer resistance, may overcome the adaptive ERK reactivation. Experiments revealed that AXL is upregulated and activated in FLT3/ITD cell lines mere hours after commencing TKI treatment. AXL inhibition combined with FLT3 inhibition to decrease the ERK signal rebound and to exert greater anti-leukemia effects than with either treatment alone. Finally, we observed that TKI-induced AXL upregulation occurs in patient samples, and combined inhibition of both AXL and FLT3 increased efficacy in our in vivo models. Taken together, these data suggest that AXL plays a role in adaptive resistance in FLT3/ITD AML and that combined AXL and FLT3 inhibition might improve FLT3/ITD AML patient outcomes.

Keywords:  FLT3/ITD AML; RTK signaling; adaptive response; cancer resistance; targeted therapy

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/1878-0261.13749
bioRxiv. 2024 Oct 12. pii: 2024.10.11.617794. [Epub ahead of print]

Fetal Liver-like Organoids Recapitulate Blood-Liver Niche Development and Multipotent Hematopoiesis from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells.

Milad Rezvani, Kyle Lewis, Susanna Quach, Kentaro Iwasawa, Julian Weihs, Hasan Reza, Yuqi Cai, Masaki Kimura, RanRan Zhang, Yuka Milton, Praneet Chaturvedi, Konrad Thorner, Ramesh C Nayak, Jorge O Munera, Phillip Kramer, Brian Davis, Appakalai Balamurugan, Yeni Ait Ahmed, Marcel Finke, Rose Yinghan Behncke, Adrien Guillot, Rene Haegerling, Julia Polansky, Philip Bufler, Jose Cancelas, James Wells, Momoko Yoshimoto, Takanori Takebe.

The fetal liver is a hematopoietic organ, hosting a diverse and evolving progenitor population. While human liver organoids derived from pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) mimic aspects of embryonic and fetal development, they typically lack the complex hematopoietic niche and the interaction between hepatic and hematopoietic development. We describe the generation of human Fetal Liver-like Organoids (FLOs), that model human hepato-hematopoietic interactions previously characterized in mouse models. Developing FLOs first integrate a yolk sac-like hemogenic endothelium into hepatic endoderm and mesoderm specification. As the hepatic and hematopoietic lineages differentiate, the FLO culture model establishes an autonomous niche capable of driving subsequent progenitor differentiation without exogenous factors. Consistent with yolk sac-derived waves, hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) within FLOs exhibit multipotency with a preference for myeloid lineage commitment, while retaining fetal B and T cell differentiation potential. We reconstruct in FLOs the embryonic monocyte-to-macrophage and granulocyte immune trajectories within the FLO microenvironment and assess their functional responses in the liver niche. In vivo, FLOs demonstrate a liver engraftment bias of hematopoietic cells, recapitulating a key phenomenon of human hematopoietic ontogeny. Our findings highlight the intrinsic capacity of liver organoids to support hematopoietic development, establishing FLOs as a platform for modeling and manipulating human blood-liver niche interactions during critical stages of development and disease.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.10.11.617794
Cell Death Dis. 2024 Oct 16. 15(10): 750

Venetoclax triggers sublethal apoptotic signaling in venetoclax-resistant acute myeloid leukemia cells and induces vulnerability to PARP inhibition and azacitidine.

Mahesh Tambe, Sarah Unterberger, Mette C Kriegbaum, Ida Vänttinen, Ezgi June Olgac, Markus Vähä-Koskela, Mika Kontro, Krister Wennerberg, Caroline A Heckman.

Venetoclax plus azacitidine treatment is clinically beneficial for elderly and unfit acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. However, the treatment is rarely curative, and relapse due to resistant disease eventually emerges. Since no current clinically feasible treatments are known to be effective at the state of acquired venetoclax resistance, this is becoming a major challenge in AML treatment. Studying venetoclax-resistant AML cell lines, we observed that venetoclax induced sublethal apoptotic signaling and DNA damage even though cell survival and growth were unaffected. This effect could be due to venetoclax inducing a sublethal degree of mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization. Based on these results, we hypothesized that the sublethal apoptotic signaling induced by venetoclax could constitute a vulnerability in venetoclax-resistant AML cells. This was supported by screens with a broad collection of drugs, where we observed a synergistic effect between venetoclax and PARP inhibition in venetoclax-resistant cells. Additionally, the venetoclax-PARP inhibitor combination prevented the acquisition of venetoclax resistance in treatment naïve AML cell lines. Furthermore, the addition of azacitidine to the venetoclax-PARP inhibitor combination enhanced venetoclax induced DNA damage and exhibited exceptional sensitivity and long-term responses in the venetoclax-resistant AML cell lines and samples from AML patients that had clinically relapsed under venetoclax-azacitidine therapy. In conclusion, we mechanistically identify a new vulnerability in acquired venetoclax-resistant AML cells and identify PARP inhibition as a potential therapeutic approach to overcome acquired venetoclax resistance in AML.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41419-024-07140-4
Sci Transl Med. 2024 Oct 16. 16(769): eadj6779

High-fidelity PAMless base editing of hematopoietic stem cells to treat chronic granulomatous disease.

Vera Bzhilyanskaya, Linyuan Ma, Siyuan Liu, Lauren R Fox, Madelynn N Whittaker, Ronald J Meis, Uimook Choi, Amanda Lawson, Michelle Ma, Narda Theobald, Sandra Burkett, Colin L Sweeney, Cicera R Lazzarotto, Shengdar Q Tsai, Justin B Lack, Xiaolin Wu, Gary A Dahl, Harry L Malech, Benjamin P Kleinstiver, Suk See De Ravin.

X-linked chronic granulomatous disease (X-CGD) is an inborn error of immunity (IEI) resulting from genetic mutations in the cytochrome b-245 beta chain (CYBB) gene. The applicability of base editors (BEs) to correct mutations that cause X-CGD is constrained by the requirement of Cas enzymes to recognize specific protospacer adjacent motifs (PAMs). Our recently engineered PAMless Cas enzyme, SpRY, can overcome the PAM limitation. However, the efficiency, specificity, and applicability of SpRY-based BEs to correct mutations in human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) have not been thoroughly examined. Here, we demonstrated that the adenine BE ABE8e-SpRY can access a range of target sites in HSPCs to correct mutations causative of X-CGD. For the prototypical X-CGD mutation CYBB c.676C>T, ABE8e-SpRY achieved up to 70% correction, reaching efficiencies greater than three-and-one-half times higher than previous CRISPR nuclease and donor template approaches. We profiled potential off-target DNA edits, transcriptome-wide RNA edits, and chromosomal perturbations in base-edited HSPCs, which together revealed minimal off-target or bystander edits. Edited alleles persisted after transplantation of the base-edited HSPCs into immunodeficient mice. Together, these investigational new drug-enabling studies demonstrated efficient and precise correction of an X-CGD mutation with PAMless BEs, supporting a first-in-human clinical trial (NCT06325709) and providing a potential blueprint for treatment of other IEI mutations.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.adj6779
Methods Mol Biol. 2025 ;2865 283-294

Phosphoproteomic Analysis of Signaling Pathways in Lymphomas.

Björn Häupl, Anne Christine Wilke, Henning Urlaub, Thomas Oellerich.

  Cellular fate is regulated by intricate signal transduction mediated by posttranslational protein modifications like phosphorylation to transmit information. As other cancer types, lymphomas frequently show dysregulation of signaling pathways that contribute to malignant transformation and tumor progression. For example, in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma the B-cell antigen receptor was identified as an oncogenic driver mediating cellular growth and survival signals. Thus, the elucidation of these complex signaling networks is crucial to gain insight into the mechanisms underlying tumorigenesis and to identify target proteins for innovative therapeutic approaches.Here, we describe a mass spectrometry-based phosphoproteomic approach for the global analysis of intracellular signaling events and their dynamics. The workflow combines phosphopeptide enrichment and fractionation with liquid chromatography-coupled mass spectrometry for the amino acid site-specific identification and quantification of thousands of phosphorylation events. Such global signaling analyses have great potential for the elucidation of oncogenic pathomechanisms, diagnostic biomarkers, and drug targets.

Keywords:   Antigen receptors; Cellular signaling; Lymphoma; Mass spectrometry; Phosphoproteomics

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-4188-0_13
EJHaem. 2024 Oct;5(5): 1028-1032

Mutant NPM1 marginally impacts ribosome footprint in acute myeloid leukemia cells.

Lorenzo Brunetti, Giulia Pianigiani, Michael C Gundry, Margaret A Goodell, Brunangelo Falini.

  Background: NPM1-mutated acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most frequent AML subtype. As wild-type NPM1 is known to orchestrate ribosome biogenesis, it has been hypothesized that altered translation may contribute to leukemogenesis and leukemia maintenance in NPM1-mutated AML. However, this hypothesis has never been investigated. We reasoned that if mutant NPM1 (NPM1c) directly impacts translation in leukemic cells, loss of NPM1c would result in acute changes in the ribosome footprint.Methods: Here, we performed ribosome footprint profiling (Ribo-seq) and bulk messenger RNA (mRNA) sequencing in two NPM1-mutated cell lines engineered to express endogenous NPM1c fused to the FKBP (F36V) degron tag (degron cells).
Results and discussion: Incubation of degron cells with the small compound dTAG-13 enables highly specific degradation of NPM1c within 4 hours. As expected, RNA-sequencing data showed early loss of homeobox gene expression following NPM1c degradation, confirming the reliability of our model. In contrast, Ribo-seq data showed negligible changes in the ribosome footprint in both cell lines, implying that the presence of NPM1c does not influence ribosome abundance and positioning on mRNA. While it is predictable that NPM1c exerts its leukemogenic activity at multiple levels, ribosome footprint does not seem influenced by the presence of mutant NPM1.

Keywords:  acute leukemia; cell biology; transcription

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/jha2.996
Leukemia. 2024 Oct 15.

Anagrelide and idarubicin combination induces GSDME-mediated pyroptosis as a potential therapy for high-PDE3A acute myeloid leukemia.

Chenwei Yang, Yixin Hu, Li Gao, Zhiheng Li, Yongping Zhang, Ran Zhuo, Yayun Du, Hu Liu, Qi Ji, Minyuan Liu, Jian Pan, Jun Lu, Peifang Xiao, Yuanyuan Tian, Sudan He, Jing Ling, Shaoyan Hu.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an invasive hematopoietic malignancy requiring novel treatment strategies. In this study, we identified phosphodiesterase 3 A (PDE3A) as a potential new target for drug repositioning in AML. PDE3A was preferentially overexpressed in AML cells than in normal cells, and high expression of PDE3A was correlated with lower event-free survival (EFS) in de novo AML patients. The PDE3A inhibitor anagrelide (ANA) profoundly suppresses the proliferation of high PDE3A-expressing AML cells while exhibiting minimal impact on those with low PDE3A expression. Moreover, synergistic effect of ANA with other chemotherapeutic drugs in high PDE3A expression AML cells was observed. The ANA-idarubicin (IDA) combination showed the most remarkable synergistic effect among all ANA-chemotherapeutic drugs commonly used in AML cell line models. Mechanistically, the synergy between ANA and IDA inhibited the survival of PDE3Ahigh AML cell lines through pyroptosis. This mechanism was initiated by GSDME cleavage triggered by caspase-3 activation. In vivo combination treatment of leukemic animals with high PDE3A expression significantly reduced leukemia burden and prolonged survival time compared with single-drug and vehicle control treatments. Our findings suggest that combined ANA and IDA treatment is an innovative and promising therapeutic strategy for AML patients with high PDE3A expression.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-024-02437-x
Nat Rev Cancer. 2024 Oct 16.

New horizons in our understanding of precursor multiple myeloma and early interception.

David M Cordas Dos Santos, Rosa Toenges, Luca Bertamini, Jean-Baptiste Alberge, Irene M Ghobrial.

Multiple myeloma is an incurable plasma cell malignancy that evolves over decades through the selection and malignant transformation of monoclonal plasma cells. The evolution from precursor states to symptomatic disease is characterized by an increasing complexity of genomic alterations within the plasma cells and a remodelling of the microenvironment towards an immunosuppressive state. Notably, in patients with advanced disease, similar mechanisms of tumour escape and immune dysfunction mediate resistance to modern T cell-based therapies, such as T cell-engaging bispecific antibodies and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells. Thus, an increasing number of clinical trials are assessing the efficiency and safety of these therapies in individuals with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma and high-risk smoldering multiple myeloma. In this Review, we summarize the current knowledge about tumour intrinsic and extrinsic processes underlying progression from precursor states to symptomatic myeloma and discuss the rationale for early interception including the use of T cell-redirecting therapies.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41568-024-00755-x
Leukemia. 2024 Oct 14.

Acute myeloid leukemia: does sex matter?

Jesse M Tettero, Jacqueline Cloos, Lars Bullinger.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-024-02435-z
J Biol Chem. 2024 Oct 10. pii: S0021-9258(24)02379-2. [Epub ahead of print] 107877

O-GlcNAcylation of ribosome-associated proteins is concomitant with translational reprogramming during proteotoxic stress.

Quira Zeidan, Jie L Tian, Junfeng Ma, Farzad Eslami, Gerald W Hart.

  Protein O-GlcNAc modification, similar to phosphorylation, supports cell survival by regulating key processes like transcription, cell division, trafficking, signaling, and stress tolerance. However, its role in protein homeostasis, particularly in protein synthesis, folding, and degradation remains poorly understood. Our previous research shows that O-GlcNAc cycling enzymes associate with the translation machinery during protein synthesis and modify ribosomal proteins. Protein translation is closely linked to 26S proteasome activity, which recycles amino acids and clears misfolded proteins during stress, preventing aggregation and cell death. In this study, we demonstrate that pharmacological perturbation of the proteasome-like that used in cancer treatment- leads to the increased abundance of OGT and OGA in a ribosome-rich fraction, concurrent with O-GlcNAc modification of core translational and ribosome-associated proteins. This interaction is synchronous with eIF2α-dependent translational reprogramming. We also found that protein ubiquitination depends partly on O-GlcNAc metabolism in MEFs, as OGT-depleted cells show decreased ubiquitination under stress. Using an O-GlcNAc-peptide enrichment strategy followed by LC-MS/MS, we identified 84 unique O-GlcNAc sites across 55 proteins, including ribosomal proteins, nucleolar factors, and the 70-kDa heat shock protein family. Hsp70 and OGT colocalize with the translational machinery in an RNA-independent manner, aiding in partial protein translation recovery during sustained stress. O-GlcNAc cycling on ribosome-associated proteins collaborates with Hsp70 to restore protein synthesis during proteotoxicity, suggesting a role in tumor resistance to proteasome inhibitors.

Keywords:  O-GlcNAc; O-GlcNAc transferase; O-GlcNAcase; proteasome; proteotoxicity; ribosome; translation; ubiquitination

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbc.2024.107877
Front Genet. 2024 ;15 1442539

Multi-omic analysis of longitudinal acute myeloid leukemia patient samples reveals potential prognostic markers linked to disease progression.

Nisar Ahmed, Irene Cavattoni, William Villiers, Chiara Cugno, Sara Deola, Borbala Mifsud.

  Relapse remains a determinant of treatment failure and contributes significantly to mortality in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. Despite efforts to understand AML progression and relapse mechanisms, findings on acquired gene mutations in relapse vary, suggesting inherent genetic heterogeneity and emphasizing the role of epigenetic modifications. We conducted a multi-omic analysis using Omni-C, ATAC-seq, and RNA-seq on longitudinal samples from two adult AML patients at diagnosis and relapse. Herein, we characterized genetic and epigenetic changes in AML progression to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of relapse. Differential interaction analysis showed significant 3D chromatin landscape reorganization between relapse and diagnosis samples. Comparing global open chromatin profiles revealed that relapse samples had significantly fewer accessible chromatin regions than diagnosis samples. In addition, we discovered that relapse-related upregulation was achieved either by forming new active enhancer contacts or by losing interactions with poised enhancers/potential silencers. Altogether, our study highlights the impact of genetic and epigenetic changes on AML progression, underlining the importance of multi-omic approaches in understanding disease relapse mechanisms and guiding potential therapeutic interventions.

Keywords:  AML relapse; ATAC-seq; Omni-C; RNA-seq; chromatin reorganization; epigenetic modifications; multi-omic analyses

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2024.1442539
Sci Rep. 2024 10 12. 14(1): 23882

Autophagy and inflammasome activation are associated with poor response to FLT3 inhibitors in patients with FLT3-ITD acute myeloid leukemia.

Brunno Gilberto Santos de Macedo, Manuela Albuquerque de Melo, Diego Antonio Pereira-Martins, João Agostinho Machado-Neto, Fabíola Traina.

  Beyond its clinical diversity and severity, acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is known for its complex molecular background and for rewiring biological processes to aid disease onset and maintenance. FLT3 mutations are among the most recurring molecular entities that cooperatively drive AML, and their inhibition is a critical molecularly oriented therapeutic strategy. Despite being a promising avenue, it still faces challenges such as intrinsic and acquired drug resistance, which led us to investigate whether and how autophagy and inflammasome interact and whether this interaction could be leveraged to enhance FLT3 inhibition as a therapeutic strategy. We observed a strong and positive correlation between the expression of key genes associated with autophagy and the inflammasome. Gene set enrichment analysis of the FLT3-ITD samples and their ex vivo response to five different FLT3 inhibitors revealed a common molecular signature compatible with autophagy and inflammasome activation across all poor responders. Inflammasome activation was also shown to strongly increase the likelihood of a poor ex vivo response to the FLT3 inhibitors quizartinib and sorafenib. These findings reveal a distinct molecular pattern within FLT3-ITD AML samples that underscores the necessity for further exploration into how approaching these supportive parallel yet altered pathways could improve therapeutic strategies.

Keywords:   Drug resistance; Acute myeloid leukemia; Autophagy; FLT3-ITD inhibitors; Inflammasome

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-74168-z
Autophagy. 2024 Oct 14. 1-3

Mitophagy as a guardian against cellular aging.

Tetsushi Kataura, Niall Wilson, Gailing Ma, Viktor I Korolchuk.

  Mitophagy, the selective autophagic clearance of damaged mitochondria, is considered vital for maintaining mitochondrial quality and cellular homeostasis; however, its molecular mechanisms, particularly under basal conditions, and its role in cellular physiology remain poorly characterized. We recently demonstrated that basal mitophagy is a key feature of primary human cells and is downregulated by immortalization, suggesting its dependence on the primary cell state. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that the PINK1-PRKN-SQSTM1 pathway regulates basal mitophagy, with SQSTM1 sensing superoxide-enriched mitochondria through its redox-sensitive cysteine residues, which mediate SQSTM1 oligomerization and mitophagy activation. We developed STOCK1N-57534, a small molecule that targets and promotes this SQSTM1 activation mechanism. Treatment with STOCK1N-57534 reactivates mitophagy downregulated in senescent and naturally aged donor-derived primary cells, improving cellular senescence(-like) phenotypes. Our findings highlight that basal mitophagy is protective against cellular senescence and aging, positioning its pharmacological reactivation as a promising anti-aging strategy.Abbreviation: IR: ionizing radiation; ROS: reactive oxygen species; SARs: selective autophagy receptors.

Keywords:  Aging; SQSTM1/p62; autophagy; mitochondria; mitophagy; senescence

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/15548627.2024.2414461
Biomed Rep. 2024 Dec;21(6): 185

miR‑1343‑3p inhibits autophagy by directly targeting ATG7 in multiple myeloma cells.

Yanrong Guo, Xiaoxiao Ding, Changling Dai, Wenwen Wang, Jianlin Chen, Sai Chen, Linjun Yang, Guang Chen.

  Multiple myeloma (MM) is the second most common type of hematological malignancy globally. Despite application of several new drugs, such as daratumumab, bortezomib/lenalidomide/dexamethasone, in combination with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, overall prognosis remains poor and the pathological mechanism of MM is still unknown. The present study used TargetScan to predict autophagy-related 7 (ATG7) as a candidate target gene of microRNA (miR)-1343-3p and confirmed the interaction between miR-1343-3p and the ATG7 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) using a dual-luciferase reporter assay. In U266 and RPMI-8226 MM cell lines, miR-1343-3p mimic transfection decreased mRNA and protein levels of ATG7, while miR-1343-3p inhibition increased ATG7 expression levels using reverse transcription-qPCR and western blot analysis. miR-1343-3p mimic transfection inhibited U266 and RPMI-8226 cell survival. Finally, miR-1343-3p regulated ATG7 and autophagy in MM cells using western blot analysis. The present findings suggested that miR-1343-3p may regulate ATG7 and autophagy by directly targeting the 3'UTR of ATG7. To the best of our knowledge, there are no direct data showing the roles of miR-1343-3p in development of MM; however, miR-1343-3p may be considered a potential target for MM treatment.

Keywords:  autophagy; autophagy-related 7; microRNA-1343-3p; multiple myeloma

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3892/br.2024.1873
PNAS Nexus. 2024 Oct;3(10): pgae429

Peroxisomal import stress activates integrated stress response and inhibits ribosome biogenesis.

Jinoh Kim, Kerui Huang, Pham Thuy Tien Vo, Ting Miao, Jacinta Correia, Ankur Kumar, Mirre J P Simons, Hua Bai.

  Impaired organelle-specific protein import triggers a variety of cellular stress responses, including adaptive pathways to balance protein homeostasis. Most of the previous studies focus on the cellular stress response triggered by misfolded proteins or defective protein import in the endoplasmic reticulum or mitochondria. However, little is known about the cellular stress response to impaired protein import in the peroxisome, an understudied organelle that has recently emerged as a key signaling hub for cellular and metabolic homeostasis. To uncover evolutionarily conserved cellular responses upon defective peroxisomal import, we carried out a comparative transcriptomic analysis on fruit flies with tissue-specific peroxin knockdown and human HEK293 cells expressing dominant-negative PEX5C11A. Our RNA-seq results reveal that defective peroxisomal import upregulates integrated stress response (ISR) and downregulates ribosome biogenesis in both flies and human cells. Functional analyses confirm that impaired peroxisomal import induces eIF2α phosphorylation and ATF4 expression. Loss of ATF4 exaggerates cellular damage upon peroxisomal import defects, suggesting that ATF4 activation serves as a cellular cytoprotective mechanism upon peroxisomal import stress. Intriguingly, we show that peroxisomal import stress decreases the expression of rRNA processing genes and inhibits early pre-rRNA processing, which leads to the accumulation of 47S precursor rRNA and reduction of downstream rRNA intermediates. Taken together, we identify ISR activation and ribosome biogenesis inhibition as conserved adaptive stress responses to defective peroxisomal import and uncover a novel link between peroxisomal dysfunction and rRNA processing.

Keywords:  PEX5; early rRNA processing; integrated stress response; peroxisomal import stress; ribosome biogenesis

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae429