IGFBP7 As a Potential Therapeutic Target for AML

Insulin-like growth factor binding proteins (IGFBPs) are secretory factors that play essential roles in regulation of insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) in tissue as well as in modulating IGF binding to its receptors. IGFBP7, known as IGFBP-related protein 1 (IGFBP-rP1), mac25/angiomodulin, function as a potential tumor suppressor in various human solid cancers, including breast, prostate, gastric and liver cancer. We have reported the overexpression of IGFBP7 in the context of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), showing that IGFBP7 expression level in AML patients is significantly increased compared with controls (P<0.001). IGFBP7 expression was obviously decreased in AML patients achieving complete remission (P<0.01), and was significantly increased in relapsed AML patients (P<0.01). In addition, AML patients with high expression of IGFBP7 had shorter overall survival. Here, we investigate the role and mechanism of IGFBP7 in the development and progression of AML.

In order to study the role of IGFBP7 in AML, stable cell lines expressing IGFBP7 and control in AML cells were constructed using lentiviral packaging system. Expression microarray assay was carried out to analyze the global gene level changes driven by IGFBP7. MTT and transwell assays were performed to evaluate the effect of IGFBP7 on cell proliferation and migration. Bioinformatics results found that IGFBP7 appeared to utilize multiple cellular processes for its oncogenic roles, including adhesion, migration, and proliferation. Experimental data showed overexpression of IGFBP7 in K562 cells resulted in a 2-3 fold increase in migration in contrast to control cells. Moreover, enforced expression of IGFBP7 also led to phosphorylation of Akt and Erk, whose activities inactivation by pharmacologically inhibitors resulted in the loss of ability to migrating. Finally, knockdown of IGFBP7 in cells with high IGFBP7 level, their migration abilities were significantly decreased.

To assess the role of IGFBP7 in leukemogenesis in vivo, the same numbers of K562/IGFBP7 and K562-Vector cells, U937-shIGFBP7 and U937-shNEG cells were injected into NOD-SCID mice by tail vein injection, respectively. About two weeks later, it was showed that mice of K562/IGFBP7 and U937 groups displayed higher white blood cell counts compared with mice of K562-Vector and U937-shIGFBP7 groups, respectively. Mice of K562/IGFBP7 and U937 groups had more severe splenomegaly and hepatomagaly compared with its corresponding control groups.

We further characterized the molecular mechanism underlying leukemogenesis driven by IGFBP7 in AML cell lines. The global expression profiling and molecular biological experiments showed PI3K/AKT signaling was activated by overexpression of IGFBP7, and knockdown of IGFBP7 in AML cells led to a decrease of PI3K/AKT activity in PTEN-dependent manner. IGFBP7 promotes proliferation and migration of AML cells, the promotion could be suppressed by both RNA interference and pharmacological inhibition of PI3K/AKT pathway. Immuno-precipitation assay showed that IGFBP7 associated with AXAN2 and induced PTEN degradation. The expression of ANXA2 was significantly positive correlated with the expression ANXA2 in AML patients.

The expression of IGFBP7 in AML, overexpression as well as knockdown of IGFBP7 in leukemia cells and in mice model, all suggest that IGFBP7 is a potential proto-oncogene. Collectively this work suggests that targeting IGFBP7 activity may be an effective therapeutic strategy for AML.