CREB Regulates Cell Cycle Progression through RFC3-PCNA Axis in Acute Myeloid Leukemia

CREB (cAMP Response Element Binding protein) is a transcription factor overexpressed in normal and neoplastic myelopoiesis and regulates cell cycle progression, although its oncogenic mechanism has not been well characterized. Replication Factor C3 (RFC3), a 38 kDa subunit of the RFC complex, is required for chromatin loading of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) which is a sliding clamp platform for recruiting numerous proteins in DNA replication and repair processes. CREB1 expression was coupled with RFC3 expression during the G1/S progression in the KG-1 acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cell line, suggesting that RFC3 and CREB1 might be target genes of E2F, a key transcriptional regulator of the G1/S progression. Though there were two potential E2F binding sites in the RFC3 promoter region, chromatin immunoprecipitation assays provided no evidence for E2F1 binding to the RFC3 promoter, whereas E2F1 could directly act on the CREB1 expression. Treatment with the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor AT7519 decreased expression of CREB1 and RFC3 as well as well-known E2F target genes such as CCNE1, CCNA2 and CCNB1 in KG-1 cells. These results indicate that CREB1 overexpression, a potentially important prognostic marker in leukemia patients, may be associated with dysregulated CDK-E2F activity in leukemia. There was also a direct correlation between the expression of RFC3 and CREB1 in human AML cell lines as well as in AML cells from patients. CREB interacted directly with the CRE site in RFC3 promoter region. CREB knockdown primarily inhibited G1/S cell cycle transition, decreasing expression of RFC3 as well as PCNA loading onto chromatin. Exogenous expression of RFC3 was sufficient to rescue the impaired G1/S progression and PCNA chromatin loading [Chromatin-bound PCNA-positive cells (%), control vs. CREB-knockdown vs. CREB-knockdown with RFC3 overexpression, 8h after release from mitotic arrest: 66.87 +/– 0.90 vs. 24.77 +/– 0.99 vs. 79.17 +/– 0.12, n=3, p< 0.01, mean +/– SEM] caused by CREB knockdown. Taken together, our results suggest that RFC3 may play a role in neoplastic myelopoiesis by promoting the G1/S progression, and its expression is regulated by CREB. These data provide new insight into CREB-driven regulation of the cell cycle in AML cells, and may contribute to leukemogenesis associated with CREB overexpression.