title: Bone morphogenetic protein-2 induces apoptosis in human myeloma cells with modulation of STAT3.
abstract: Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), members of the transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta superfamily, are a group of related proteins that are capable of inducing the formation of cartilage and bone but are now regarded as multifunctional cytokines. We show in this report a novel function of BMPs in hematopoietic cells: BMP-2 induces apoptosis not only in human myeloma cell lines (U266, RPMI 8226, HS-Sultan, IM-9, OPM-2, and KMS-12 cells), but also in primary samples from patients with multiple myeloma. The mechanism of BMP-2-induced apoptosis was investigated with the use of U266 cells, which are dependent on the interleukin-6 autocrine loop. We showed that BMP-2 caused cell-cycle arrest in the G1 phase and the subsequent apoptosis of myeloma cells. BMP-2 up-regulated the expression of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors (p21(CIP1/WAF1) and p27(KIP1)) and caused hypophosphorylation of retinoblastoma (Rb) protein. In studies of apoptosis-associated proteins, BMP-2 was seen to down-regulate the expression of Bcl-x(L); however, BMP-2 had no effects on the expression of Bcl-2, Bax, or Bad. Therefore, BMP-2 induces apoptosis in various human myeloma cells by means of the down-regulation of Bcl-x(L) and by cell-cycle arrest through the up-regulation of p21(CIP1/WAF1) and p27(KIP1) and by the hypophosphorylation of Rb. Further analysis showed that the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) was inactivated immediately after BMP-2 treatment. We conclude that BMP-2 would be useful as a novel therapeutic agent in the treatment of multiple myeloma both by means of its antitumor effect of inducing apoptotis and through its original bone-inducing activity, because bone lesions are frequently seen in myeloma patients.
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kawamura
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kizaki
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamato
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Uchida
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fukuchi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hattori
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Koseki
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nishihara
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ikeda
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D055396:Bone Morphogenetic Protein 2; D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D016193:G1 Phase / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D009101:Multiple Myeloma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D050796:STAT3 Transcription Factor; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000378:metabolism*; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: C525718:BMP2 protein, human; D055396:Bone Morphogenetic Protein 2; D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D050796:STAT3 Transcription Factor; C494086:STAT3 protein, human; D015534:Trans-Activators; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta