Department of Biotechnology
inStem (Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine)

Immortalised chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) derived mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) line retains the immunomodulatory and chemoprotective properties of CML patient-derived MSCs.

Publication Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

April 1, 2024

Journal

Cellular signalling

Volume/Issue

116

ISSN

1873-3913

Despite the success of Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in treating chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), leukemic stem cells (LSCs) persist, contributing to relapse and resistance. CML Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (MSCs) help in LSC maintenance and protection from TKIs. However, the limited passage and self-differentiation abilities of primary CML MSCs hinder extensive research. To overcome this, we generated and characterized an immortalised CML patient-derived MSC (iCML MSC) line and assessed its role in LSC maintenance. We also compared the immunophenotype and differentiation potential between primary CML MSCs at diagnosis, post-treatment, and with normal bone marrow MSCs. Notably, CML MSCs exhibited enhanced chondrogenic differentiation potential compared to normal MSCs. The iCML MSC line retained the trilineage differentiation potential and was genetically stable, enabling long-term investigations. Functional studies demonstrated that iCML MSCs protected CML CD34 cells from imatinib-induced apoptosis, recapitulating the bone marrow microenvironment-mediated resistance observed in patients. iCML MSC-conditioned media enabled CML CD34 and AML blast cells to proliferate rapidly, with no impact on healthy donor CD34 cells. Gene expression profiling revealed dysregulated genes associated with calcium metabolism in CML CD34 cells cocultured with iCML MSCs, providing insights into potential therapeutic targets. Further, cytokine profiling revealed that the primary CML MSC lines abundantly secreted 25 cytokines involved in immune regulation, supporting the hypothesis that CML MSCs create an immune modulatory microenvironment that promotes growth and protects against TKIs. Our study establishes the utility of iCML MSCs as a valuable model to investigate leukemic-stromal interactions and study candidate genes involved in mediating TKI resistance in CML LSCs.

Alternate Journal

Cell Signal

PubMed ID

38281615

Authors

Esther Sathya Bama Benjamin
Elizabeth Vinod
Raveen Stephen Stallon Illangeswaran
Bharathi M Rajamani
Rakhi Thalayattu Vidhyadharan
Abhirup Bagchi
Arnab Maity
Ajith Mohan
Ganesh Parasuraman
Soosai Manickam Amirtham
Aby Abraham
Shaji R Velayudhan
Poonkuzhali Balasubramanian

Keywords

Humans
Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Tumor Microenvironment
Gene Expression Profiling
Bone Marrow
Imatinib Mesylate
Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive