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ABSTRACT: The mechanisms by which hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSC and HPC) from myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) undergo ineffective production of blood cells and disease transformation into acute myeloid leukemia remain to be investigated. It has been confirmed that increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) under various pathological conditions impairs HSC self-renewal and causes HSC premature exhaustion and BM suppression primarily via induction of HSC senescence, and oncogene induces accumulation of ROS and DNA damage and subsequently cellular senescence, which functions as an important barrier to prevent the growth of transformed cells to form a neoplasia. Here we investigated whether MDS CD34(+) cells enriched with HSC and HPC undergo senescence through accumulation of ROS and DNA damage and their action mechanisms. In this study, the percentages of SA-β-gal positive senescent CD34(+) cells increased in lower-risk MDS patients, but not in higher-risk MDS and AML patients, compared to that of healthy controls. The increases were associated with an elevated expression of p21 but not the activation of p38. Further study found that there were increased ROS and DNA damage in CD34(+)CD38(-) cells enriched with HSC progression from lower-risk MDS, higher-risk MDS to AML. Therefore, these data suggest that CD34(+) cells from patients with lower-risk MDS present p21 dependent premature senescence, increased accumulation of ROS and DNA damage in CD34(+)CD38(-) cells could contribute to this process; however, CD34(+) cells from patients with higher-risk MDS could develop some mechanisms to uncouple ROS and DNA damage induced senescence.
Leukemia research 12/2012; · 2.36 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Leukemia seems to depend on a small population of "leukemia stem cells (LSCs)" for its growth and metastasis. However, the precise surviving mechanisms of LSCs remain obscure. Cellular senescence is an important obstacle for production and surviving of tumor cells. In this study we investigated the activated state of a pathway, in which reactive oxygen species (ROS) induces cellular senescence through DNA damage and phophorylation of p38 MAPK (p38), in myeloid leukemic CD34(+)CD38(-) cells. Bone marrow samples were obtained from patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML, n=11) and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML, n=9). CD34(+)CD38(-) cells were isolated from mononuclear cells from these bone marrow samples, and K562 and KG1a cells (two kinds of myeloid leukemia cell lines) by mini-magnetic activated cell sorting. Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) from human cord blood served as controls. Intracellular ROS level was detected by flow cytometry. DNA damage defined as the γH2AX level was measured by immunofluorescence staining. Real-time RT-PCR was used to detect the expression of p21, a senescence-associated gene. Western blotting and immunofluorescence staining were employed to determine the p38 expression and activation. The proliferation and apoptosis of CD34(+)CD38(-) cells were detected by MTT assay and flow cytometry. Our results showed that ROS and DNA damage were substantially accumulated and p38 was less phosphorated in myeloid leukemic CD34(+)CD38(-) cells as compared with HSCs and H(2)O(2)-induced senescent HSCs. Furthermore, over-phosphorylation of p38 by anisomycin, a selective activator of p38, induced both the senescence-like growth arrest and apoptosis of CD34(+)CD38(-) cells from K562 and KG1a cell lines. These findings suggested that, although excessive accumulation of oxidative DNA damage was present in LSCs, the relatively decreased phosphorylation of p38 might help leukemic cells escape senescence and apoptosis.
Journal of Huazhong University of Science and Technology 06/2012; 32(3):328-33. · 0.38 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: This study investigated the correlation between and compared the effects of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase α (p38MAPKα) in the ex vivo expanded umbilical cord blood (hUCB) CD133(+) cells. hUCB CD133(+) cells were cultured in the hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) culture medium with N-acetylcysteine (NAC, an anti-oxidant), p38MAPKα-specific inhibitor (SB203580) or their combination. The levels of ROS and expression of phosphorylated p38MAPKα (p-p38) in CD133(+) cells were flow cytometrically detected. The efficacy of ex vivo expansion was evaluated by the density of CD133(+) cell sub-group colony-forming cells (CFC) and cobblestone area-forming cells (CAFC) assay. Our results showed decreased ROS levels in NAC, SB203580, and their combination treatment groups were almost 37%, 48%, and 85%, respectively. Furthermore, SB203580 abrogated the activation of p38MAPKα more obviously than NAC. Moreover, the CD133(+) cells in SB203580 treatment group had a 21.93±1.36-fold increase, and 14.50±1.19-fold increase in NAC treatment group, but only 10.13±0.57-fold increase in control group. In addition, SB203580 treatment led a higher level increase in the number of CFU and CAFC than NAC did. These findings suggested that, in expanded CD133(+) cells, ROS activates p38MAPKα, which, in turn, induces ROS production, and p38MAPKα might be the most suitable regulator in ROS-p38MAPKα pathway for the promotion of HSCs ex vivo expansion.
Journal of Huazhong University of Science and Technology 10/2011; 31(5):591-5. · 0.38 Impact Factor