title: Interferon gamma promotes survival of lymphoblasts overexpressing 9-O-acetylated sialoglycoconjugates in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).
abstract: An enhanced linkage-specific 9-O-acetylated sialic acid (9-O-AcSA) on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, ALL (PBMC(ALL), 9-O-AcSA+ cells) was demonstrated by using a lectin, Achatinin-H, whose lectinogenic epitope was 9-O-AcSAalpha2-6GalNAc. Our aim was to evaluate the in vitro contributory role of this glycotope (9-O-AcSAalpha2-6GalNAc) towards the survival of these 9-O-AcSA+ cells in ALL patients. For direct comparison, 9-O-AcSA- cells were generated by removing O-acetyl group of 9-O-AcSA present on PBMC(ALL) using O-acetyl esterase. An elevated level of serum interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) in affected children led us to think that PBMC(ALL) are continuously exposed specifically to this cytokine. Accordingly, 9-O-AcSA+ and 9-O-AcSA- cells were exposed in vitro to IFN-gamma. A twofold increased NO release along with inducible NO synthase (iNOS) mRNA expression by the 9-O-AcSA+ cells was observed as compared to the 9-O-AcSA- cells. The decreased viability of IFN-gamma exposed 9-O-AcSA- cells as compared to 9-O-AcSA+ cells were reflected from a 5.0-fold increased caspase-3-like activity and a 10.0-fold increased apoptosis in the 9-O-AcSA- cells when production of NO was lowered by adding competitive inhibitor of iNOS in reaction mixture. Therefore, it may be envisaged that a link exists between induction of this glycotope and their role in regulating viability of PBMC(ALL). Taken together, it is reasonable to hypothesise that O-acetylation of sialic acids on PBMC(ALL) may be an additional mechanism that promotes the survival of lymphoblasts by avoiding apoptosis via IFN-gamma-induced NO production.
authors.affiliation: Immunobiology Division, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, 4 Raja S.C. Mullick Road, Kolkata-700 032, India.
authors.forename: Shyamasree
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.forename: Suman
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bandyopadhyay
authors.forename: Asish
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mallick
authors.forename: Santanu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pal
authors.forename: Reinhard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vlasak
authors.forename: Dilip K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Bhattacharya
authors.forename: Chitra
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mandal
mesh_terms: D000107:Acetylation / Q000187:drug effects; D000293:Adolescent; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D019158:N-Acetylneuraminic Acid / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D007371:Interferon-gamma; D019158:N-Acetylneuraminic Acid