title: Prednisolone exerts late mitogenic and biphasic effects on resistant acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells: Relation to early gene expression.
abstract: Resistance or sensitivity to glucocorticoids is considered to be of crucial importance for disease prognosis in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Prednisolone exerted a delayed biphasic effect on the resistant CCRF-CEM leukemic cell line, necrotic at low doses and apoptotic at higher doses. At low doses, prednisolone exerted a pre-dominant mitogenic effect despite its induction on total cell death, while at higher doses, prednisolone's mitogenic and cell death effects were counterbalanced. Early gene microarray analysis revealed notable differences in 40 genes. The mitogenic/biphasic effects of prednisolone are of clinical importance in the case of resistant leukemic cells. This approach might lead to the identification of gene candidates for future molecular drug targets in combination therapy with glucocorticoids, along with early markers for glucocorticoid resistance.
authors.affiliation: Hematology/Oncology Unit, First Department of Pediatrics, University of Athens Medical School, Aghia Sophia Children's Hospital, Thivon & Levadias, 11527, Goudi, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: George I
authors.initials: GI
authors.lastname: Lambrou
authors.forename: Spiros
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vlahopoulos
authors.forename: Chrisanthi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Papathanasiou
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Papanikolaou
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karpusas
authors.forename: Emmanouil
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zoumakis
authors.forename: Fotini
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tzortzatou-Stathopoulou
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D017931:DNA Primers; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D008934:Mitogens / Q000494:pharmacology*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000473:pathology*; D011239:Prednisolone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D008934:Mitogens; D011239:Prednisolone