Abnormal metabolism is a fundamental hallmark of cancer and represents a therapeutic opportunity, yet its regulation by oncogenes remains poorly understood. Here, we uncover that JMJD1C, a jumonji C (JmjC)-containing H3K9 demethylase, is a critical regulator of aberrant metabolic processes in homeobox A9 (HOXA9)-dependent acute myeloid leukemia (AML). JMJD1C overexpression increases in vivo cell proliferation and tumorigenicity through demethylase-independent upregulation of a glycolytic and oxidative program, which sustains leukemic cell bioenergetics and contributes to an aggressive AML phenotype in vivo. Targeting JMJD1C-mediated metabolism via pharmacologic inhibition of glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation led to ATP depletion, induced necrosis/apoptosis and decreased tumor growth in vivo in leukemias co-expressing JMJD1C and HOXA9. The anti-metabolic therapy effectively diminished AML stem/progenitor cells and reduced tumor burden in a primary AML patient-derived xenograft. Our data establish a direct link between drug responses and endogenous expression of JMJD1C and HOXA9 in human AML cell line- and patient-derived xenografts. These findings demonstrate a previously unappreciated role for JMJD1C in counteracting adverse metabolic changes and retaining the metabolic integrity during tumorigenesis, which can be exploited therapeutically.

Transfer of therapeutic genes to human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) using complex vectors at clinically relevant efficiencies remains a major challenge. Recently we described a stable retroviral vector that sustains long-term expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP) and a human beta-globin gene in the erythroid progeny of transduced murine HSCs. We now report the efficient transduction of primitive human CD34(+) fetal liver or cord blood cells with this vector and expression of the beta-globin transgene in the erythroid progeny of these human cells for at least 2 months. After growth factor prestimulation and then a 2- to 3-day exposure to the virus, 35% to 55% GFP(+) progeny were seen in assays of transduced colony-forming cells, primitive erythroid precursors that generate large numbers of glycophorin A(+) cells in 3-week suspension cultures, and 6-week long-term culture-initiating cells. In immunodeficient mice injected with unselected infected cells, 5% to 15% of the human cells regenerated in the marrow (including the erythroid cells) were GFP(+) 3 and 6 weeks after transplantation. Importantly, the numbers of GFP(+) human lymphoid and either granulopoietic or erythroid cells in individual mice 6 weeks after transplantation were significantly correlated, indicative of the initial transduction of human multipotent cells with in vivo repopulating activity. Expression of the transduced beta-globin gene in human cells obtained directly from the mice or after their differentiation into erythroid cells in vitro was demonstrated by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction using specific primers. These experiments represent a significant step toward the realization of a gene therapy approach for human beta-globin gene disorders.

We have used a murine retrovirus vector containing an enhanced green fluorescent protein complimentary DNA (EGFP cDNA) to dynamically follow vector-expressing cells in the peripheral blood (PB) of transplanted rhesus macaques. Cytokine mobilized CD34(+) cells were transduced with an amphotropic vector that expressed EGFP and a dihydrofolate reductase cDNA under control of the murine stem cell virus promoter. The transduction protocol used the CH-296 recombinant human fibronectin fragment and relatively high concentrations of the flt-3 ligand and stem cell factor. Following transplantation of the transduced cells, up to 55% EGFP-expressing granulocytes were obtained in the peripheral circulation during the early posttransplant period. This level of myeloid marking, however, decreased to 0.1% or lower within 2 weeks. In contrast, EGFP expression in PB lymphocytes rose from 2%-5% shortly following transplantation to 10% or greater by week 5. After 10 weeks, the level of expression in PB lymphocytes continued to remain at 3%-5% as measured by both flow cytometry and Southern blot analysis, and EGFP expression was observed in CD4(+), CD8(+), CD20(+), and CD16/56(+) lymphocyte subsets. EGFP expression was only transiently detected in red blood cells and platelets soon after transplantation. Such sustained levels of lymphocyte marking may be therapeutic in a number of human gene therapy applications that require targeting of the lymphoid compartment. The transient appearance of EGFP(+) myeloid cells suggests that transduction of a lineage-restricted myeloid progenitor capable of short-term engraftment was obtained with this protocol. (Blood. 2000;95:445-452)

Predictive in vitro hematotoxicity assays using human cells will provide estimation of tolerable level and aid considerably the development of agents with greater therapeutic activity and less toxicity. Human hematopoietic cells can be derived from three sources: human bone marrow by sternal or femoral aspiration, mobilized peripheral blood, or umbilical cord blood samples collected from placentas after deliveries. Because of the difficulties to have a continuous supply of bone marrow cells from normal human donors and the related ethical problems, we performed a study to compare the sensitivity of human bone marrow cells (h-BMC) and human cord blood cells (h-CBC) to chemicals in order to confirm if h-CBC can readily replace bone marrow cells in checking the sensitivity of GM-CFU progenitors to drugs as preliminarily reported in literature. Our results showed that the prediction of IC50 values in human model is quite similar by using h-BMC or h-CBC. On the contrary, the type of medium influenced in a significant way the ICs determination of some drugs.

The synthetic cytokine (Synthokine) SC-55494 is a high-affinity interleukin-3 (IL-3) receptor ligand that stimulates greater in vitro multilineage hematopoietic activity than native IL-3, while inducing no significant increase in inflammatory activity relative to native IL-3. The aim of this study was to investigate the in vivo hematopoietic response of rhesus monkeys receiving Synthokine after radiation-induced marrow aplasia. Administration schedule and dose of Synthokine were evaluated. All animals were total-body irradiated (TBI) with 700 cGy 60Co gamma radiation on day 0. Beginning on day 1, cohorts of animals (n = 5) received Synthokine subcutaneously (SC) twice daily with 25 micrograms/kg/d or 100 micrograms/kg/d for 23 days or 100 micrograms/kg/d for 14 days. Control animals (n = 9) received human serum albumin SC once daily at 15 micrograms/kg/d for 23 days. Complete blood counts were monitored for 60 days postirradiation and the durations of neutropenia (NEUT; absolute neutrophil count [ANC] textless 500/microL) and thrombocytopenia (THROM; platelet count textless 20,000/microL) were assessed. Synthokine significantly (P textless .05) reduced the duration of THROM versus the HSA-treated animals regardless of dose or protocol length. The most striking reduction was obtained in the animals receiving 100 micrograms/kg/d for 23 days (THROM = 3.5 v 12.5 days in HSA control animals). Although the duration of NEUT was not significantly altered, the depth of the nadir was significantly lessened in all animal cohorts treated with Synthokine regardless of dose versus schedule length. Bone marrow progenitor cell cultures indicated a beneficial effect of Synthokine on the recovery of granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming units that was significantly higher at day 24 post-TBI in both cohorts treated at 25 and 100 micrograms/kg/d for 23 days relative to the control animals. Plasma pharmacokinetic parameters were evaluated in both normal and irradiated animals. Pharmacokinetic analysis performed in irradiated animals after 1 week of treatment suggests an effect of repetitive Synthokine schedule and/or TBI on distribution and/or elimination of Synthokine. These data show that the Synthokine, SC55 94, administered therapeutically post-TBI, significantly enhanced platelet recovery and modulated neutrophil nadir and may be clinically useful in the treatment of the myeloablated host.

Recombinant retroviruses offer many advantages for the genetic modification of human hematopoietic cells, although their use in clinical protocols has thus far given disappointing results. There is therefore an important need to develop new strategies that will allow effectively transduced primitive hematopoietic target populations to be both rapidly characterized and isolated free of residual nontransduced but biologically equivalent cells. To address this need, we constructed a murine stem cell virus (MSCV)-based retroviral vector containing the 228-bp coding sequence of the murine heat-stable antigen (HSA) and generated helper virus-free amphotropic MSCV-HSA producer cells by transfection of GP-env AM12 packaging cells. Light density and, in some cases, lineage marker-negative (lin-) normal human marrow or mobilized peripheral blood cells preactivated by exposure to interleukin-3 (IL-3), IL-6, and Steel factor in vitro for 48 hours were then infected by cocultivation with these MSCV-HSA producer cells for a further 48 hours in the presence of the same cytokines. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis of the cells 24 hours later showed 21% to 41% (mean, 27%) of those that were still CD34+ to have acquired the ability to express HSA. The extent of gene transfer to erythroid and granulopoietic progenitors (burst-forming unit-erythroid and colony-forming unit-granulocyte-macrophage), as assessed by the ability of these cells to form colonies of mature progeny in the presence of normally toxic concentrations of G418, averaged 11% and 12%, respectively, in 6 experiments. These values could be increased to 100% and 77%, respectively, by prior isolation of the CD34+HSA+ cell fraction and were correspondingly decreased to an average of 2% and 5%, respectively, in the CD34+HSA- cells. In addition, the extent of gene transfer to long-term culture-initiating cells (LTC-IC) was assessed by G418 resistance. The average gene transfer to LTC-IC-derived colony-forming cells in the unsorted population was textless or = 7% in 4 experiments. FACS selection of the initially CD34+HSA+ cells increased this value to 86% and decreased it to 3% for the LTC-IC plated from the CD34+HSA- cells. Transfer of HSA gene expression to a phenotypically defined more primitive subpopulation of CD34+ cells, ie, those expressing little or no CD38, could also be shown by FACS analysis of infected populations 24 hours after infection. These findings underscore the potential use of retroviral vectors encoding HSA for the specific identification and non-toxic selection immediately after infection of retrovirally transduced populations of primitive human hematopoietic cells. In addition, such vectors should facilitate the subsequent tracking of their marked progeny using multiparameter flow cytometry.