FHL1C induces apoptosis in notch1-dependent T-ALL cells through an interaction with RBP-J

BMC Cancer

Wei Fu¹  Kai Wang¹  Jun-Long Zhao²  Heng-Chao Yu²  San-Zhong Li²  Yan Lin¹  Liang Liang²  Si-Yong Huang¹  Ying-Min Liang¹  Hua Han²  Hong-Yan Qin² 

[1] Department of Hematology, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an 710038, People’s Republic of China

[2] State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology, Department of Medical Genetics and Developmental Biology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an 710032, People’s Republic of China

关键词: Apoptosis;    RBP-J;    FHL1C;    Notch signaling;    T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia;   

Others  :  856930
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2407-14-463

 received in 2013-09-05, accepted in 2014-06-17,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Aberrantly activated Notch signaling has been found in more than 50% of patients with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). Current strategies that employ γ-secretase inhibitors (GSIs) to target Notch activation have not been successful. Many limitations, such as non-Notch specificity, dose-limiting gastrointestinal toxicity and GSI resistance, have prompted an urgent need for more effective Notch signaling inhibitors for T-ALL treatment. Human four-and-a-half LIM domain protein 1C (FHL1C) (KyoT2 in mice) has been demonstrated to suppress Notch activation in vitro, suggesting that FHL1C may be new candidate target in T-ALL therapy. However, the role of FHL1C in T-ALL cells remained unclear.

Methods

Using RT-PCR, we amplified full-length human FHL1C, and constructed full-length and various truncated forms of FHL1C. Using cell transfection, flow cytometry, transmission electron microscope, real-time RT-PCR, and Western blotting, we found that overexpression of FHL1C induced apoptosis of Jurkat cells. By using a reporter assay and Annexin-V staining, the minimal functional sequence of FHL1C inhibiting RBP-J-mediated Notch transactivation and inducing cell apoptosis was identified. Using real-time PCR and Western blotting, we explored the possible molecular mechanism of FHL1C-induced apoptosis. All data were statistically analyzed with the SPSS version 12.0 software.

Results

In Jurkat cells derived from a Notch1-associated T-ALL cell line insensitive to GSI treatment, we observed that overexpression of FHL1C, which is down-regulated in T-ALL patients, strongly induced apoptosis. Furthermore, we verified that FHL1C-induced apoptosis depended on the RBP-J-binding motif at the C-terminus of FHL1C. Using various truncated forms of FHL1C, we found that the RBP-J-binding motif of FHL1C had almost the same effect as full-length FHL1C on the induction of apoptosis, suggesting that the minimal functional sequence in the RBP-J-binding motif of FHL1C might be a new drug candidate for T-ALL treatment. We also explored the molecular mechanism of FHL1C overexpression-induced apoptosis, which suppressed downstream target genes such as Hes1 and c-Myc and key signaling pathways such as PI3K/AKT and NF-κB of Notch signaling involved in T-ALL progression.

Conclusions

Our study has revealed that FHL1C overexpression induces Jurkat cell apoptosis. This finding may provide new insights in designing new Notch inhibitors based on FHL1C to treat T-ALL.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Fu et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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