title: Rapid engraftment of human ALL in NOD/SCID mice involves deficient apoptosis signaling.
abstract: Previously, we found that rapid leukemia engraftment (short time to leukemia, TTL(short)) in the NOD/SCID/huALL (non-obese diabetic/severe combined immuno-deficiency/human acute lymphoblastic leukemia) xenograft model is indicative of early patient relapse. As earlier intact apoptosis sensitivity was predictive for good prognosis in patients, we investigated the importance of apoptosis signaling on NOD/SCID/huALL engraftment. Intact apoptosome function as reflected by cytochrome c-related activation of caspase-3 (CRAC-positivity) was strongly associated with prolonged NOD/SCID engraftment (long time to leukemia, TTL(long)) of primary leukemia cells, good treatment response and superior patient survival. Conversely, deficient apoptosome function (CRAC-negativity) was associated with rapid engraftment (TTL(short)) and early relapse. Moreover, an intact apoptosis signaling was associated with high transcript and protein levels of the pro-apoptotic death-associated protein kinase1 (DAPK1). Our data strongly emphasize the impact of intrinsic apoptosis sensitivity of ALL cells on the engraftment phenotype in the NOD/SCID/huALL model, and most importantly also on patient outcome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, University Medical Center Ulm, Ulm University, Eythstrasse 24, 89075 Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Queudeville
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Seyfried
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Eckhoff
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Trentin
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ulrich
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schirmer
authors.forename: K-M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Debatin
authors.forename: L H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Meyer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D053478:Apoptosomes / Q000378:metabolism; D017871:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000378:metabolism; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D054703:Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases, Type 4 / Q000378:metabolism; D045304:Cytochromes c / Q000378:metabolism; D064550:Death-Associated Protein Kinases; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D016688:Mice, Inbred NOD; D016513:Mice, SCID; D010641:Phenotype; D012008:Recurrence; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; D053478:Apoptosomes; D045304:Cytochromes c; C579096:DAPK1 protein, human; C579106:Dapk1 protein, mouse; D064550:Death-Associated Protein Kinases; D017871:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases; D054703:Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases, Type 4; C095813:Pde4a protein, mouse; D053148:Caspase 3