Resveratrol Induces Cell Cycle Arrest and Apoptosis in Malignant NK Cells Via JAK2/STAT3 Pathway Inhibition

Abstract 1343

Natural killer (NK)-cell malignancies, particularly aggressive NK-cell leukemias/lymphomas, have poor prognoses. Although recent regimens that include L-asparaginase substantially improve outcomes, novel therapeutic approaches are needed to improve clinical responses. Recent reports have shown that the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) pathway is critical for proliferation and survival of malignant NK cells. Resveratrol is a naturally-occurring polyphenol that has been extensively studied for its anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective, and anti-cancer activities. In this study, we investigated the potential anti-tumor activities of resveratrol against the NK cell lines KHYG-1, NKL, NK-92, and NK-YS. Resveratrol significantly suppressed cell proliferation in a dose- and time-dependent manner in these four cell lines. Flow cytometry analysis with annexin V/propidium iodide staining showed a variable but consistent induction of apoptosis in the four cell lines treated with resveratrol for 48 hours, ranging from 57.1±6.9% of apoptosis in the L-asparaginase resistant cell line KHYG-1 to 53.4±9.7%, 28.8±3.3%, and 51.7±6.7% in NKL, NK-92, and NK-YS cells respectively (Fig. 1a). Notably, the anti-tumor activity of resveratrol against NK cell lines was p53 independent as demonstrated by equal efficacy of resveratrol against NK cell lines pretreated with the p53 inhibitor Pifithrin-α. Immunoblot analysis to study intracellular signaling in resveratrol-treated cells showed suppression of constitutively active STAT3 in all four cell lines 24 hours after treatment. Remarkably, resveratrol inhibited JAK2 phosphorylation, but had no effect on other known upstream mediators of STAT3 activation such as PTEN and Tyk2 (Fig. 1b). Resveratrol induced robust G1 cell cycle arrest and down-regulation of two anti-apoptotic proteins, Mcl-1 and survivin, both of which are downstream effectors of the STAT-3 pathway. Furthermore, resveratrol enhanced the pro-apoptotic and anti-proliferative activities of L-asparaginase against NKL and NK-92 cells by 32% and 126% respectively.

These data indicate that resveratrol possesses a potent anti-tumor effect via inactivation of the STAT3 pathway in malignant NK cells. These mechanistic findings suggest that resveratrol may have therapeutic potential against NK cell malignancies. Our finding that resveratrol is a bonafide JAK2 inhibitor extends its therapeutic potential to other diseases with deregulated JAK2 signaling.

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