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Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are currently the first therapy option for chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) patients. However, many patients affected by CML and AML may develop resistance to TKIs or may not recover under this treatment regime. New potential and more effective treatments are recently emerging. Heat shock protein inhibitors (HSPIs) and the proteasome inhibitor Bortezomib are drugs which have been yet to be successfully tested on leukemic patients, despite being successful on other malignancies such as multiple myeloma (MM). The combination between HSPIs and Bortezomib could potentially be successful in killing leukemic cells, by enhancing their respective molecular mechanisms. Indeed, HSPIs would bind to HSP72 avoiding the protein to exert its ligase function to the proteasome, whilst Bortezomib could stop the ubiquitinated proteins to enter the proteasome and ultimately inducing apoptosis. To test the effects of such combination, cell viability was measured via MTS assay, apoptosis levels were tested through Annexin V\PI assays. Involvement of HSP72 and pro-survival protein Bcl-2 were measured via flow-cytometry. The cells were administered with HSPIs and Bortezomib first as single agents for 24 hours, to establish working minimal concentration. Also, the drugs were tested for a shorter time, to understand when the drugs start to be effective. It emerged that one hour is sufficient for the drugs to give an initial effect in terms of cell viability and apoptosis. Following, combination experiments of HSPIs and Bortezomib were performed; the first drug was administered for one hour, the second following one hour and the cells were incubated for 24 hours. This was repeated alternatively for both type of drugs on the different cell lines. MTS and Annexin V\PI showed that there is not a synergistic effect between drugs, but instead there is antagonism. No necrosis was found at any level of the study. The cells were then probed for HSP72 and Bcl-2, to investigate their involvement in apoptosis mechanisms. Following 6 hours of combined and single agent treatment, both type of drugs inhibit HSP72 but failed to reduce the expression of Bcl-2, particularly on AML cells. It is thus proposed that CML and AML cells may die by apoptosis following a short time of treatment with HSPIs and Bortezomib by an extrinsic pathway of apoptosis, independent from Bcl-2 involvement and from mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis. This study may be the first to indicate a potential use of HSPIs and Bortezomib on CML and AML patients for a short time of treatment, although not in combination. Future studies are needed to further investigate the mechanisms of action of these drugs, aiming to potentially give CML and AML patients another successful therapy option to overcome resistance to canonic chemotherapy.

Around 50% of chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) patients who remain on imatinib treatment for more than 5 years will achieve a complete molecular response (CMR), defined by undetectable BCR-ABL mRNA in a sensitive reverse transcriptase real-time quantitative PCR (RQ-PCR) assay. Given the increasing importance of CMR on imatinib therapy the primary aim of this study was to improve the accuracy and sensitivity of MRD detection to allow a more accurate estimation of relapse risk when therapy is withdrawn. Firstly, we investigated ways of improving the sensitivity of RT-PCR methods for the detection of BCR-ABL mRNA. Secondly, we investigated the use of the patient-specific BCR-ABL gene for the detection of MRD. Thirdly, we conducted a multi-centre clinical trial of imatinib withdrawal in selected CML patients in a stable CMR. This clinical trial provided patient samples that could be used to test our optimized MRD assays, and provided clinical data on the risk and patterns of relapse after withdrawal of imatinib therapy. The trial is ongoing, but an interim analysis of the study data was performed. In 22 patients the estimated probability of molecular relapse after imatinib withdrawal was 54%, and 60% of relapses occurred within the first 4 months. The average detection limit of BCR-ABL mRNA by RQ-PCR is estimated at around 4.5 log below the level of BCR-ABL prior to commencing treatment. The number of leukaemic cells at diagnosis is around 10¹ ², so the number of residual leukaemic cells in CMR might vary from zero to over a million. We hypothesized that the amount of residual leukaemia in CMR is variable between patients, and that this heterogeneity is a determinant of the risk of relapse when treatment is withdrawn. We developed more sensitive methods for the detection of BCR-ABL and tested these methods in samples from our study patients. We showed that random pentadecamer (15-mer) primers improved the efficiency of reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR), and resulted in a lower detection limit of BCR-ABL mRNA. We also developed a novel nested RT-PCR method using real-time PCR for the second round of the reaction, and this resulted in a lower detection limit of BCR-ABL in patient samples. The utility of this nested RT-PCR method was limited by a false positive rate of 2-3% in the HeLa cell line that we used as our negative control. Consequently, we examined the detection of the patient-specific genomic BCR-ABL sequence as an alternative to RT-PCR. Breakpoints in BCR and ABL1 in CML patients are widely dispersed over 3 kb and 150 kb, respectively. Therefore, the BCR-ABL genomic sequence is essentially unique to each patient. We sequenced the genomic breakpoints of 43 CML patients. We showed that the distribution of breakpoints in BCR and ABL1 was non-random, but we were unable to identify any genomic feature that determined the specific location of individual breakpoints. We developed a novel BCR-ABL DNA Q-PCR method for 12 of the study patients, and in 11 of the patients BCR-ABL DNA was detected when the patient was in a CMR, confirming that this method was more sensitive than RQ-PCR. Contrary to our hypothesis, the detection of BCR-ABL DNA was not predictive of relapse. In most patients who relapsed there was a significant increase in BCR-ABL DNA prior to mRNA relapse. Two patients had stable levels of BCR-ABL DNA measurable on multiple occasions, but remained in remission after 6 months and 15 months, respectively. We have shown that a stable CMR after the withdrawal of imatinib therapy does not necessarily indicate the eradication of leukaemia. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Medicine, 2010

Adhesion of hematopoietic cells to the bone marrow microenvironment is important for their proper development. It is proven that Src-family kinases (SFK) regulate cell adhesion, although their exact role in the regulation of adhesion signaling remains unclear. Since adhesion processes are investigated mainly in adherent cell types, far less is known about hematopoietic cells. However, defects in the cell adhesion accompany a number of hematological diseases, like chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML). SFK overexpression is one of the proposed mechanisms of resistance to the first-line CML treatment, imatinib mesylate. Second generation drugs (e. g. dasatinib) inhibit SFK together with Bcr-Abl. Additionally, SFK-specific inhibitors (PP2, Src inhibitor-1) are also available, but there are no studies about effects of these drugs on cellular adhesivity of hematopoietic precursors. To explore the dynamics of hematopoietic cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix, we introduced a new approach using the RTCA xCELLigence DP system along with the well-established method of fluorimetric detection of adherent cell fraction. Our general observation is that various drugs (dasatinib, imatinib, PP2, Src inhibitor-1) induce pro-adhesive effects in several leukemic cell lines. Direct comparison of the kinetics of...

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2006Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:54:35Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 kanegae_mpp_me_arafcf.pdf: 328350 bytes, checksum: ee1587bd6ab853b184cea70a4d71dac0 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Em hematologia, a principal aplicação da determinação da atividade da fosfatase alcalina (FA) neutrofílica é no auxílio ao diagnóstico diferencial entre leucemia mielóide crônica (LMC) e reações leucemóides neutrofílicas (RL) decorrentes de doenças mieloproliferativas, como a mielofibrose, policitemia vera ou de inflamações/ infecções. Tradicionalmente esta determinação é realizada por um ensaio citoquímico subjetivo, no qual se atribui uma pontuação (SCORE) para o nível de FA. Neste trabalho apresentamos um método quimiluminescente, objetivo, quantitativo, sensível e barato para a determinação de FA neutrofílica baseado no reagente comercial Immulite®. Leucócitos íntegros obtidos de amostras de sangue periférico de trinta e dois indivíduos saudáveis, nove portadores de LMC e nove portadores de RL foram submetidos ao protocolo otimizado. Através da determinação da emissão de luz por quatro concentrações de neutrófilos, foi possível detectar a atividade de FA por célula (inclinação - SLOPE - da curva obtida por regressão linear). Uma alta correlação foi obtida quando o método quimiluminescente (SLOPE), aqui desenvolvido, foi comparado ao citoquímico (SCORE). Obtivemos uma variação do SLOPE entre 0,61-8,49 (10-5 mV.s/célula) para amostras do grupo controle (indivíduos saudáveis), sendo que o valor da mediana foi 2,04 (10-5 mV.s/célula). Estes resultados foram estatisticamente diferentes das amostras do grupo LMC (variação: 0,07 - 1,75; mediana: 0,79) e do grupo RL (variação: 3,84 - 47,24; mediana: 9,58) (p<0,05). / In haematology the main application of the leukocyte alkaline phosphatase (LAP) assay is in distinguishing chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) from other myeloproliferative diseases, particularly from myelofibrosis, polycythaemia or other inflammatory/infectious diseases (LR). Traditionally, this is performed by subjective cytochemical assays where a SCORE is attributed to the level of LAP. Here we present a non-subjective, quantitative, sensitive and inexpensive chemiluminescent technique for LAP determination, based on the commercial reagent Immulite®. Intact leukocytes obtained from thirty-two healthy subjects, nine CML and nine LR patients were submitted to the optimized protocol. By measuring the light emission elicited by four concentrations of neutrophils, it was possible to estimate the activity of LAP per cell (the SLOPE of the curve obtained by linear regression). A high linear correlation was found between the chemiluminescent result (SLOPE) and the cytochemical SCORE. The SLOPE for healthy individuals ranged between 0.61 and 8.49 (10-5 mV.s/cell), with a median of 2.04 (10-5 mV.s/cell). These results were statistically different from CML patients (range 0.07 - 1.75, median 0.79) and LR patients (range 3.84 - 47.24, median 9.58) (p<0.05).

Orientador: Luiz Marcos da Fonseca / Banca: Amauri Antiquera Leite / Banca: Eduardo Magalhães Rego / Resumo: Em hematologia, a principal aplicação da determinação da atividade da fosfatase alcalina (FA) neutrofílica é no auxílio ao diagnóstico diferencial entre leucemia mielóide crônica (LMC) e reações leucemóides neutrofílicas (RL) decorrentes de doenças mieloproliferativas, como a mielofibrose, policitemia vera ou de inflamações/ infecções. Tradicionalmente esta determinação é realizada por um ensaio citoquímico subjetivo, no qual se atribui uma pontuação (SCORE) para o nível de FA. Neste trabalho apresentamos um método quimiluminescente, objetivo, quantitativo, sensível e barato para a determinação de FA neutrofílica baseado no reagente comercial Immulite®. Leucócitos íntegros obtidos de amostras de sangue periférico de trinta e dois indivíduos saudáveis, nove portadores de LMC e nove portadores de RL foram submetidos ao protocolo otimizado. Através da determinação da emissão de luz por quatro concentrações de neutrófilos, foi possível detectar a atividade de FA por célula (inclinação - SLOPE - da curva obtida por regressão linear). Uma alta correlação foi obtida quando o método quimiluminescente (SLOPE), aqui desenvolvido, foi comparado ao citoquímico (SCORE). Obtivemos uma variação do SLOPE entre 0,61-8,49 (10-5 mV.s/célula) para amostras do grupo controle (indivíduos saudáveis), sendo que o valor da mediana foi 2,04 (10-5 mV.s/célula). Estes resultados foram estatisticamente diferentes das amostras do grupo LMC (variação: 0,07 - 1,75; mediana: 0,79) e do grupo RL (variação: 3,84 - 47,24; mediana: 9,58) (p<0,05). / Abstract: In haematology the main application of the leukocyte alkaline phosphatase (LAP) assay is in distinguishing chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) from other myeloproliferative diseases, particularly from myelofibrosis, polycythaemia or other inflammatory/infectious diseases (LR). Traditionally, this is performed by subjective cytochemical assays where a SCORE is attributed to the level of LAP. Here we present a non-subjective, quantitative, sensitive and inexpensive chemiluminescent technique for LAP determination, based on the commercial reagent Immulite®. Intact leukocytes obtained from thirty-two healthy subjects, nine CML and nine LR patients were submitted to the optimized protocol. By measuring the light emission elicited by four concentrations of neutrophils, it was possible to estimate the activity of LAP per cell (the SLOPE of the curve obtained by linear regression). A high linear correlation was found between the chemiluminescent result (SLOPE) and the cytochemical SCORE. The SLOPE for healthy individuals ranged between 0.61 and 8.49 (10-5 mV.s/cell), with a median of 2.04 (10-5 mV.s/cell). These results were statistically different from CML patients (range 0.07 - 1.75, median 0.79) and LR patients (range 3.84 - 47.24, median 9.58) (p<0.05). / Mestre