title: Regulation of the acute myeloid leukemia cell line OCI/AML-2 by endothelial nitric oxide synthase under the control of a vascular endothelial growth factor signaling system.
abstract: It is generally accepted that the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signal system has no role in the maintenance of normal blood cell formation, although it obviously regulates the development of primitive hematopoiesis during an early stage of embryogenesis. The VEGF signaling pathway, however, might have some role in malignant hematopoiesis, since malignant hematopoietic cells, including acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells, have been shown to express VEGF and its receptors. In endothelial cells, the VEGF/Flk-1/KDR signal system is a very important generator of nitric oxide (NO) through the activation of its downstream effectors phosphatidylinositol-3-OH-kinase (PI3-K), Akt kinase and endothelial NO synthase (eNOS). It is known that NO regulates hematopoiesis and modulates AML cell growth. The role of the VEGF signaling pathway in the control of AML cell growth through eNOS, however, has not been studied. By using the OCI/AML-2 cell line, which expresses VEGF receptor-2, ie Flk-1/KDR, eNOS and VEGF, as analyzed by flow cytometry, and produces VEGF into growth medium, as analyzed by ELISA, we showed that the Akt kinase and NOS activities in these cells were decreased by the inhibitors of VEGF, Flk-1/KDR and PI3-K, and NOS activity also by the direct inhibitor of NOS. The decreased NOS activity led to inhibition of clonogenic cell growth and, to some extent, induction of apoptosis. We also found that blast cells of bone marrow samples randomly taken from 14 AML patients uniformly expressed Flk-1/KDR and to varying degrees eNOS and VEGF, as analyzed by immunohistochemistry. We conclude that autocrine VEGF through Flk-1/KDR, by activating eNOS to produce NO through PI3-K/Akt kinase, maintains clonogenic cell growth in the OCI/AML-2 cell line. Since the patient samples did not express VEGF in all cases, it is possible that in vivo the regulatory connection between these two signal systems is also mediated via endocrine VEGF in addition to autocrine or paracrine VEGF.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Oulu University Hospital, Finland.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Koistinen
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Siitonen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mäntymaa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Säily
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kinnula
authors.forename: E R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Savolainen
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Soini
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D016228:Endothelial Growth Factors / Q000502:physiology*; D018922:HL-60 Cells; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007951:Leukemia, Myeloid / Q000201:enzymology*; D008222:Lymphokines / Q000502:physiology*; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase / Q000378:metabolism*; D052250:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D017978:Receptors, Growth Factor / Q000378:metabolism; D040262:Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D042442:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors
chemical_list: D016228:Endothelial Growth Factors; D008222:Lymphokines; D017978:Receptors, Growth Factor; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D042442:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors; C496314:NOS3 protein, human; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D052250:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; D040262:Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor