title: Genomewide identification of prednisolone-responsive genes in acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells.
abstract: Glucocorticoids are keystone drugs in the treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). To get more insight in signal transduction pathways involved in glucocorticoid-induced apoptosis, Affymetrix U133A GeneChips were used to identify transcriptionally regulated genes on 3 and 8 hours of prednisolone exposure in leukemic cells of 13 children as compared with nonexposed cells. Following 3 hours of exposure no significant changes in gene expression could be identified. Following 8 hours of exposure, 51 genes were differentially expressed (P < .001 and false discovery rate < 10%) with 39 genes being up-regulated (median, 2.4-fold) and 12 genes were down-regulated (median, 1.7-fold). Twenty-one of those genes have not been identified before to be transcriptionally regulated by prednisolone. Two of the 3 most highly up-regulated genes were tumor suppressor genes, that is, thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP; 3.7-fold) and zinc finger and BTB domain containing 16 (ZBTB16; 8.8-fold). About 50% of the differentially expressed genes were functionally categorized in 3 major routes, namely MAPK pathways (9 genes), NF-kappaB signaling (11 genes), and carbohydrate metabolism (5 genes). Biologic characterization of these genes and pathways might elucidate the action of glucocorticoids in ALL cells, possibly suggesting causes of glucocorticoid resistance and new potential targets for therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Oncology/Hematology, Erasmus MC/Sophia Children's Hospital, Dr Molewaterplein 60, 3015 GJ Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Wim J E
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Tissing
authors.forename: Monique L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: den Boer
authors.forename: Jules P P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Meijerink
authors.forename: Renee X
authors.initials: RX
authors.lastname: Menezes
authors.forename: Sigrid
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Swagemakers
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: van der Spek
authors.forename: Stephen E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Sallan
authors.forename: Scott A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Armstrong
authors.forename: Rob
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pieters
mesh_terms: D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015973:Gene Expression Regulation, Leukemic / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D015894:Genome, Human; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011239:Prednisolone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D011239:Prednisolone