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In chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the increment in PBLs is slower than the expected increment calculated from the cells' proliferation rate, suggesting that cellular proliferation and apoptosis are concurrent. Exploring this phenomenon, we found overexpression of caspase-3, higher cleaved poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase levels (p < 0.007), and a higher apoptosis rate in cells from patients with high counts compared with cells from patients with low counts. Although we previously found that STAT3 protects CLL cells from apoptosis, STAT3 levels were significantly higher in cells from patients with high counts than in cells from patients with low counts. Furthermore, overexpression of STAT3 did not protect the cells. Rather, it upregulated caspase-3 and induced apoptosis. Remarkably, putative STAT3 binding sites were identified in the caspase-3 promoter, and a luciferase assay, chromatin immunoprecipitation, and an EMSA revealed that STAT3 activated caspase-3 However, caspase-3 levels increased only when STAT3 levels were sufficiently high. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation and EMSA, we found that STAT3 binds with low affinity to the caspase-3 promoter, suggesting that at high levels, STAT3 activates proapoptotic mechanisms and induces apoptosis in CLL cells., (Copyright © 2016 by The American Association of Immunologists, Inc.)

Unlabelled: While reviewing chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) bone marrow slides, we identified cytoplasmic lipid vacuoles in CLL cells but not in normal B cells. Because lipoprotein lipase (LPL), which catalyzes hydrolysis of triglycerides into free fatty acids (FFA), is aberrantly expressed in CLL, we investigated whether LPL regulates the oxidative metabolic capacity of CLL cells. We found that unlike normal B cells, CLL cells metabolize FFAs. Because STAT3 is constitutively activated in CLL cells and because we identified putative STAT3 binding sites in the LPL promoter, we sought to determine whether STAT3 drives the aberrant expression of LPL. Transfection of luciferase reporter gene constructs driven by LPL promoter fragments into MM1 cells revealed that STAT3 activates the LPL promoter. In addition, chromatin immunoprecipitation confirmed that STAT3 binds to the LPL promoter. Furthermore, transfection of CLL cells with STAT3-shRNA downregulated LPL transcripts and protein levels, confirming that STAT3 activates the LPL gene. Finally, transfection of CLL cells with LPL-siRNAs decreased the capacity of CLL cells to oxidize FFAs and reduced cell viability., Implications: Our study suggests that CLL cells adopt their metabolism to oxidize FFA. Activated STAT3 induces LPL, which catalyzes the hydrolysis of triglycerides into FFA. Therefore, inhibition of STAT3 is likely to prevent the capacity of CLL cells to utilize FFA., (©2015 American Association for Cancer Research.)

Unlabelled: Here, it was determined that chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells express the α subunit, but not the β subunit, of the granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor receptor (GM-CSFR/CSF2R). GM-CSFRα was detected on the surface, in the cytosol, and in the nucleus of CLL cells via confocal microscopy, cell fractionation, and GM-CSFRα antibody epitope mapping. Because STAT3 is frequently activated in CLL and the GM-CSFRα promoter harbors putative STAT3 consensus binding sites, MM1 cells were transfected with truncated forms of the GM-CSFRα promoter, then stimulated with IL6 to activate STAT3 and to identify STAT3-binding sites. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and an electoromobility shift assay (EMSA) confirmed STAT3 occupancy to those promoter regions in both IL6-stimulated MM1 and CLL cells. Transfection of MM1 cells with STAT3-siRNA or CLL cells with STAT3-shRNA significantly downregulated GM-CSFRα mRNA and protein levels. RNA transcripts, involved in regulating cell survival pathways, and the proteins KAP1 (TRIM28) and ISG15 coimmunoprecipitated with GM-CSFRα. GM-CSFRα-bound KAP1 enhanced the transcriptional activity of STAT3, whereas GM-CSFRα-bound ISG15 inhibited the NF-κB pathway. Nevertheless, overexpression of GM-CSFRα protected MM1 cells from dexamethasone-induced apoptosis, and GM-CSFRα knockdown induced apoptosis in CLL cells, suggesting that GM-CSFRα provides a ligand-independent survival advantage., Implications: Constitutively, activation of STAT3 induces the expression of GM-CSFRα that protects CLL cells from apoptosis, suggesting that inhibition of STAT3 or GM-CSFRα may benefit patients with CLL., (©2014 American Association for Cancer Research.)

MicroRNA (miR) abnormalities play a key role in the pathogenesis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). High levels of miR-155 have been detected in human neoplasms, and overexpression of miR-155 has been found to induce lymphoma in mice. High levels of miR-155 were detected in CLL cells and STAT3, which is known to induce miR-21 and miR-181b-1 expression, is constitutively activated in CLL. Given these findings, we hypothesized that STAT3 induces miR-155. Sequence analysis revealed that the miR-155 promoter harbors two putative STAT3 binding sites. Therefore, truncated miR-155 promoter constructs and STAT3 small interfering RNA (siRNA) were co-transfected into MM1 cells. Of the two putative binding sites, STAT3-siRNA reduced the luciferase activity of the construct containing the 700-709 bp STAT3 binding site, suggesting that this site is involved in STAT3-induced transcription. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay confirmed that STAT3 bound to the miR-155 promoter in CLL cells, and chromatin immunoprecipitation and luciferase assay confirmed that STAT3 bound to the 700-709 bp but not the 615-624 bp putative STAT3 binding site in CLL cells. Finally, STAT3-small hairpin RNA downregulated miR-155 gene expression, suggesting that constitutively activated STAT3 binds to the miR-155 gene promoter. Together, these results suggest that STAT3 activates miR-155 in CLL cells.

Backgrounds: Approximately 1,000 microRNAs (miRs) are present in the human genome; however, little is known about the regulation of miR transcription. Because miR levels are deregulated in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)-3 is constitutively activated in CLL, we sought to determine whether STAT3 affects the transcription of miR genes in CLL cells., Methods: We used publically available data from the ENCODE project to identify putative STAT3 binding sites in the promoters of miR genes. Then we transfected CLL cells with STAT3-shRNA or with an empty vector, and to determine which miRs are differentially expressed, we used a miR microarray approach followed by validation of the microarray results for 6 miRs using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR)., Results: We identified putative STAT3 binding sites in 160 promoter regions of 200 miRs, including miR-21, miR-29, and miR-155, whose levels have been reported to be upregulated in CLL. Levels of 72 miRs were downregulated (n = 63) or upregulated (n = 9). qRT-PCR confirmed the array data in 5 of 6 miRs., Conclusions: The presence of activated STAT3 has a profound effect on miR expression in CLL cells.