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Ecotropic viral integration site-1 (EVI1) is one of the candidate oncogenes for human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with chromosomal alterations at 3q26. High EVI1 expression (EVI1high) is a risk factor for AML with poor outcome. Using DNA microarray analysis, we previously identified that integrin α6 (ITGA6) was upregulated over 10-fold in EVI1high leukemia cells. In this study, we determined whether the increased expression of ITGA6 is associated with drug-resistance and increased cell adhesion, resulting in poor prognosis. To this end, we first confirmed the expression pattern of a series of integrin genes using semi-quantitative PCR and fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS) analysis and determined the cell adhesion ability in EVI1high leukemia cells. We found that the adhesion ability of EVI1high leukemia cells to laminin increased with the increased expression of ITGA6 and integrin β4 (ITGB4). The introduction of small-hairpin RNA against EVI1 (shEVI1) into EVI1high leukemia cells reduced the cell adhesion ability and downregulated the expression of ITGA6 and ITGB4. In addition, the overexpression of EVI1 in EVI1low leukemia cells enhanced their cell adhesion ability and increased the expression of ITGA6 and ITGB4. In a subsequent experiment, the introduction of shRNA against ITGA6 or ITGB4 into EVI1high AML cells downregulated their cell adhesion ability; however, the EVI1high AML cells transfected with shRNA against ITGA6 could not be maintained in culture. Moreover, treating EVI1high leukemia cells with neutralizing antibodies against ITGA6 or ITGB4 resulted in an enhanced responsiveness to anti-cancer drugs and a reduction of their cell adhesion ability. The expression of ITGA6 is significantly elevated in cells from relapsed and EVI1high AML cases; therefore, ITGA6 might represent an important therapeutic target for both refractory and EVI1high AML. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Ecotropic viral integration site-1 (EVI1) is an oncogenic transcription factor in human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) associated with poor prognosis. Because the drug-resistance of leukemia cells is partly dependent on cell quiescence in the bone marrow niche, EVI1 may be involved in cell cycle regulation in leukemia cells. As a candidate regulator of the cell cycle in leukemia cells with high EVI1 expression (EVI1high), we analyzed angiopoietin1 (Ang1), which is a down-regulated gene in EVI1-deficient mice and is involved in the quiescence of hematopoietic stem cells. The results of real-time PCR analyses showed that Ang1 is highly expressed in leukemia cell lines and primary AML cells with EVI1high expression. Introduction of shRNA against EVI1 into EVI1high leukemia cells down-regulated Ang1 expression. Moreover, knockdown of Ang1 in EVI1high leukemia cells promoted cell cycle progression and down-regulated the CDK inhibitor p18 (INK4c). Treatment with a decoy Tie2/Fc protein also down-regulated the expression of p18. These results suggest that Ang1/Tie2 signaling may suppress cell cycle progression via maintenance of G0/G1 phase through up-regulation of p18 expression. This mechanism may help to maintain EVI1high leukemia cells in the bone marrow niche and promote resistance to anti-cancer drugs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents the findings of the study which examined the details of the influx mechanism of the antineoplastic drug epirubicin and showed that epirubicine uptake was mediated by carrier systems in addition to diffusion in the primary culture of rat hepatocytes. It was found that the uptake of epirubicin slowly increased in a saturated manner when the concentrations were low, while it increased progressively in a linear manner when the concentration was high. Moreover, it was determined that pretreatment with verapamil and para-aminohippurate (PAH) significantly prevented epirubicin-induced reduction of proliferative activity in rat hepatocytes.

A recombinant form of D-3-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.30) from Pseudomonas fragi has been crystallized by the hanging-drop method using PEG 3000 as a precipitating agent. The crystals belong to the orthorhombic group P21212, with unit-cell parameters a = 64.3, b = 99.0, c = 110.2 Å. The crystals are most likely to contain two tetrameric subunits in the asymmetric unit, with a VM value of 3.29 Å 3 Da-1. Diffraction data were collected to a 2.0 Å resolution using synchrotron radiation at the BL6A station of the Photon Factory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]