Role of Wnt/β-Catenin Signalling in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) Cell Response to Chemotherapy

Background: Growing evidences from both preclinical and clinical investigations reveal the critical role of Wnt signalling for the development of many cancers and for their response to chemotherapy. Although recent studies suggest that aberrant Wnt signalling can be involved in the neoplastic myeloid cell growth, the contribution of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway to AML survival and chemoresistance is still unclear.

Aims: In this study, we investigated the contribution of WNT/β-CATENIN signalling to AML survival and chemoresistance. For this purpose we tested different modulators of Wnt/β-Catenin pathway for their ability to influence AML cells proliferation and response to Cytarabine (Ara-C) or Idarubicin treatment.

Methods: AML primary blast cells(30 samples) or AML cell lines cultured alone or in presence of human bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (hBM-MSCs), were treated with with Cytarabine (Ara-C) or Idarubicin, in presence or absence of Wnt modulators, including ligands (Wnt3a, Wnt5a/5b), Porcupine inhibitors (IWP-2), LRP6 inhibitors (Niclosamide), or antagonists of TCF/β-catenin (PKF118-310, PNU-74654).

Results:In silico analysis showed the enrichment of Wnt signalling components in AML samples. Western Blot and flow cytometry showed the presence of total β-catenin only in about 2/3 of primary samples analyzed, while . β-catenin positive samples had different degree of activation of the pathway, as revealed by the expression of active forms of β-catenin, including (Ser675)β-catenin and non-phospho-(Ser33/37/Thr41) β-catenin. Notably, we found that active forms of β-catenin increased in AML samples in co-culture with hBM-MSCs, thus suggesting that Wnt signalling could be involved in the crosstalk between bone marrow stroma and AML cells. The addition of Wnt or pharmacological inhibitors, such as IWP-2, PNU-74654 and Niclosamide, to the culture medium of β-catenin-positive AML samples, either cultured alone or in co-culture with hBM-MSCs, reduced AML cell proliferation with slight effect on cell death. When associated to Idarubicin, all Wnt inhibitors except IWP-2 synergycally induced a dramatic cell death in AML cells in both culture conditions. However, when Idarubicin was replaced by Ara-C the synergism was observed only with Niclosamide and PKF. Cell death was mainly due to apoptosis, as shown by Annexin-V staining.

Conclusion: Overall our data show that Wnt inhibitors reduce proliferation and chemoresistance of AML cells in culture or co-culture with bone marrow stroma cells. Wnt/β-catenin signalling may represent a potential therapeutic strategy to improve AML treatment, overcoming bone marrow stromal-mediated anti-apoptotic and chemoresistance effects.