Gfi-1B is a transcriptional repressor that is crucial for erythroid differentiation: inactivation of the GFI1B gene in mice leads to embryonic death due to failure to produce differentiated red cells. Accordingly, GFI1B expression is tightly regulated during erythropoiesis, but the mechanisms involved in such regulation remain partially understood. We here identify HMGB2, a high-mobility group HMG protein, as a key regulator of GFI1B transcription. HMGB2 binds to the GFI1B promoter in vivo and up-regulates its trans-activation most likely by enhancing the binding of Oct-1 and, to a lesser extent, of GATA-1 and NF-Y to the GFI1B promoter. HMGB2 expression increases during erythroid differentiation concomitantly to the increase of GfI1B transcription. Importantly, knockdown of HMGB2 in immature hematopoietic progenitor cells leads to decreased Gfi-1B expression and impairs their erythroid differentiation. We propose that HMGB2 potentiates GATA-1-dependent transcription of GFI1B by Oct-1 and thereby controls erythroid differentiation.

SPARC is an extracellular matrix protein that exerts pleiotropic effects on extracellular matrix organization, growth factor availability, cell adhesion, differentiation, and immunity in cancer. Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) cells resistant to the BCR-ABL inhibitor imatinib (IM-R cells) were found to overexpress SPARC mRNA. In this study, we show that imatinib triggers SPARC accumulation in a variety of tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI)-resistant CML cell lines. SPARC silencing in IM-R cells restored imatinib sensitivity, whereas enforced SPARC expression in imatinib-sensitive cells promoted viability as well as protection against imatinib-mediated apoptosis. Notably, we found that the protective effect of SPARC required intracellular retention inside cells. Accordingly, SPARC was not secreted into the culture medium of IM-R cells. Increased SPARC expression was intimately linked to persistent activation of the Fyn/ERK kinase signaling axis. Pharmacologic inhibition of this pathway or siRNA-mediated knockdown of Fyn kinase resensitized IM-R cells to imatinib. In support of our findings, increased levels of SPARC mRNA were documented in blood cells from CML patients after 1 year of imatinib therapy compared with initial diagnosis. Taken together, our results highlight an important role for the Fyn/ERK signaling pathway in imatinib-resistant cells that is driven by accumulation of intracellular SPARC.

Defects in apoptosis contribute to poor outcome in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), calling for novel strategies that counter apoptosis resistance. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that small molecule inhibitors of the antiapoptotic protein XIAP cooperate with TRAIL to induce apoptosis in childhood acute leukemia cells. XIAP inhibitors at subtoxic concentrations, but not a structurally related control compound, synergize with TRAIL to trigger apoptosis and to inhibit clonogenic survival of acute leukemia cells, whereas they do not affect viability of normal peripheral blood lymphocytes, suggesting some tumor selectivity. Analysis of signaling pathways reveals that XIAP inhibitors enhance TRAIL-induced activation of caspases, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, and cytochrome c release in a caspase-dependent manner, indicating that they promote a caspase-dependent feedback mitochondrial amplification loop. Of note, XIAP inhibitors even overcome Bcl-2-mediated resistance to TRAIL by enhancing Bcl-2 cleavage and Bak conformational change. Importantly, XIAP inhibitors kill leukemic blasts from children with ALL ex vivo and cooperate with TRAIL to induce apoptosis. In vivo, they significantly reduce leukemic burden in a mouse model of pediatric ALL engrafted in non-obese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient (NOD/SCID) mice. Thus, XIAP inhibitors present a promising novel approach for apoptosis-based therapy of childhood ALL.