Restored expression of vitamin D receptor and sensitivity to 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 in response to disrupted fusion FOP2–FGFR1 gene in acute myeloid leukemia cells

Aleksandra Marchwicka, Aoife Corcoran, Klaudia Berkowska, Ewa Marcinkowska

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells can be induced to undergo terminal differentiation with subsequent loss of tumorigenicity using 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25D) alone or in combination with hematopoietic cytokines. KG1 cells are resistant to 1,25D-induced cell differentiation. These cells have the aberrant signal transduction resulting from a constitutively active fusion protein FOP2-FGFR1, a constitutively active STAT1 and a high level of interferon (IFN) stimulated genes (ISGs). In this paper we report that in KG1 cells with constitutively activated protein FOP2-FGFR1 delivery of plasmid DNA disrupted FOP2-FGFR1 fusion gene. As a consequence, STAT1 signal transduction pathway became switched off, the expression of vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene was increased and sensitivity to 1,25D-induced differentiation was restored. The activation of ISGs in KG1 cells resulted in resistance to externally added IFNs, and also this effect was reversed in cells with disrupted FOP2-FGFR1 fusion gene. In this paper we have documented for the first time a link between constitutively active STAT1 signal transduction pathway, high level of ISGs and low expression of VDR gene. We show in this paper that delivery of plasmid DNA to the cells may disrupt fusion gene FOP2-FGFR1 which occurs in a disease entity called 8p11 myeloproliferative syndrome. Inhibition of the FOP2-FGFR1 signal transduction pathway restored sensitivity of the cells to 1,25D-induced cell differentiation.