Adaptor Protein Lnk Binds to JAK3 and Negatively Regulates a Mutant Activating Allele Associated with Megakaryocytic Leukemia.

Abstract 5044

The adaptor protein Lnk is known to associate with hematopoietic cytokine receptors such as cKIT, MPL and PDGFR, as well as, non-receptor tyrosine kinases such as JAK2, and is considered to have an inhibitory effect on these signaling pathways. JAK3 is expressed mainly in the hematopoietic system and its absence is associated with autosomal recessive severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). Recently, activating mutations of JAK3 were described in transient myeloproliferative disorder (TMD) and acute megakaryocytic leukemia (AMKL) in Down syndrome (DS) patients as well as adult non-DS AMKL. JAK3 mutations were also rarely described in solid tumors and B-ALL. The 50% homology between JAK3 and JAK2 has led us to study the association between Lnk and JAK3.293T cells were co-transfected with cDNAs encoding either wild-type (WT) JAK3 or JAK3 harboring an activating A572V mutation (JAK3 A572V), as well as the WT V5-tagged Lnk. Whole cell lysates were used for immunoprecipitation with either V5-tag or JAK3 antibodies. Binding of Lnk and JAK3 was detected by Western blot probed with JAK3 or V5-tag antibodies. To determine which domain of Lnk is responsible for the binding, we constructed a series of V5-tagged Lnk mutants including a mutation in the SH2 domain (R392E), deletion of the SH2 domain (del SH2) and deletion of the PH and SH2 (del SH2/PH) domains. Our results show that WT Lnk binds to WT JAK3, as well as JAK3 A572V. The R392E and del SH2 Lnk mutants retained JAK3 binding capacity while deletion of both SH2 and PH domains of Lnk abolished JAK3 binding. In order to study the biological effect of Lnk binding to JAK3, we infected CMK cells, a megakaryocytic leukemia cell line harboring JAK3 A572V, with a bicistronic retroviral MSCV-IRES-GFP (MIG) WT Lnk vector. Effect on growth was assessed in GFP positive sorted cells by cell count and colony formation in methylcellulose. CMK cells infected with MIG WT Lnk grew slower in liquid culture and had decreased clonogenic growth in soft agar culture compared to cells infected with MIG vector alone.

In summary, we show for the first time that Lnk can bind to WT and mutant JAK3 and slow the growth of leukemic cells harboring an activating JAK3 mutation. Developing a small molecule mimetic of Lnk may have a therapeutic role in the treatment of hematopoietic malignancies associated with a variety of activated tyrosine kinase receptors and non-receptor tyrosine kinases including JAK3, as well as secondary signaling proteins.