Microrna-143 Blocks ERK5 Signaling During Granulocytic Differentiation of Hematopoietic Stem Cells and Is Downregulated in AML

Abstract 3516

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways are a family of related and sometimes interconnected pathways and one of the most studied. Over the last years, extensive work has established that these proteins play a critical role in G-CSF mediated maturation of neutrophil granulocytes. Understanding the mechanisms by which the MAPK pathways are regulated represents an important area of investigation. MicroRNAs, a class of small non-coding RNAs, have been found to play an important role in the regulation of diverse cellular processes by binding to target mRNAs leading to their translational repression. Deregulation of certain microRNAs, thereby, may lead to disrupted signal pathways, such as MAPK-signaling, and to tumorigenesis. However, the role of microRNAs in hematopoietic differentiation and development of leukemia remains largely unknown. In this study we performed a global screen to identify microRNAs involved in G-CSF-regulated MAPK-pathways in primary human CD34+ hematopoietic progenitor cells. Here we found microRNA-143 (miR-143) to be frequently upregulated in G-CSF stimulated CD34+ cells with a strong correlation to CD15 expression. We could also show the granulopoietic association of miR-143 in several hematopoietic cell line models and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patient samples. Especially, AML patient samples FAB M4 and M5, which show monocytic phenotypes, had a significant lower expression level of miR-143 compared to the AML FAB types M0, M1, M2, and M3. In general, miR-143 expression was shown to be downregulated in AML patient samples in comparison to normal CD34+ hematopoietic progenitor cells. Most interestingly, we show that miR-143 expression is upregulated in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) patients after ATRA treatment. By in silico prediction we found MAPK protein family members (eg. MAPK1, MAPK3 and MAPK7) as predicted targets of miR-143. Western blot analysis of AML patient samples and G-CSF stimulated CD34+ cells clearly show an inverse correlation of miR-143 and MAPK7 (ERK5) protein expression. Finally, by transient overexpression of miR-143 we could show a strong downregulation of ERK protein expression in NB4 cells. Our study suggest that miR-143 upregulation by G-CSF may be an important regulatory step for permitting neutrophil differentiation. MicroRNA-143 blocks ERK5 signaling in G-CSF-induced granulopoiesis of CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells, is downregulated in myelo-monocytic acute myeloid leukemia subtypes, and upregulated after ATRA treatment in APL patients. This information may prove useful for the understanding of conditions in which neutrophil proliferation/differentiation balancing is dysregulated, such as in myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic disorders.