Artigo Acesso aberto Revisado por pares

Effects of the JAK2 Inhibitor, AZ960, on Pim/BAD/BCL-xL Survival Signaling in the Human JAK2 V617F Cell Line SET-2

2008; Elsevier BV; Volume: 283; Issue: 47 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1074/jbc.m803813200

ISSN

1083-351X

Autores

Joseph M. Gozgit, Geraldine Bebernitz, Pankaj Patil, Minwei Ye, Julie Parmentier, Jiaquan Wu, Nancy Su, Tao Wang, Stephanos Ioannidis, Audrey M. Davies, Dennis Huszar, Michael Zinda,

Tópico(s)

Cytokine Signaling Pathways and Interactions

Resumo

The Janus-associated kinase 2 (JAK2) V617F mutation is believed to play a critical role in the pathogenesis of polycythemia vera, essential thrombocythemia, and idiopathic myelofibrosis. We have characterized a novel small molecule JAK2 inhibitor, AZ960, and used it as a tool to investigate the consequences of JAK2 V617F inhibition in the SET-2 cell line. AZ960 inhibits JAK2 kinase with a Ki of 0.00045 μm in vitro and treatment of TEL-JAK2 driven Ba/F3 cells with AZ960 blocked STAT5 phosphorylation and potently inhibited cell proliferation (GI50 = 0.025 μm). AZ960 demonstrated selectivity for TEL-JAK2-driven STAT5 phosphorylation and cell proliferation when compared with cell lines driven by similar fusions of the other JAK kinase family members. In the SET-2 human megakaryoblastic cell line, heterozygous for the JAK2 V617F allele, inhibition of JAK2 resulted in decreased STAT3/5 phosphorylation and inhibition of cell proliferation (GI50 = 0.033 μm) predominately through the induction of mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis. We provide evidence that JAK2 inhibition induces apoptosis by direct and indirect regulation of the anti-apoptotic protein BCL-xL. Inhibition of JAK2 blocked BCL-XL mRNA expression resulting in a reduction of BCL-xL protein levels. Additionally, inhibition of JAK2 resulted in decreased PIM1 and PIM2 mRNA expression. Decreased PIM1 mRNA corresponded with a decrease in Pim1 protein levels and inhibition of BAD phosphorylation at Ser112. Finally, small interfering RNA-mediated suppression of BCL-xL resulted in apoptotic cell death similar to the phenotype observed following JAK2 inhibition. These results suggest a model in which JAK2 promotes cell survival by signaling through the Pim/BAD/BCL-xL pathway. The Janus-associated kinase 2 (JAK2) V617F mutation is believed to play a critical role in the pathogenesis of polycythemia vera, essential thrombocythemia, and idiopathic myelofibrosis. We have characterized a novel small molecule JAK2 inhibitor, AZ960, and used it as a tool to investigate the consequences of JAK2 V617F inhibition in the SET-2 cell line. AZ960 inhibits JAK2 kinase with a Ki of 0.00045 μm in vitro and treatment of TEL-JAK2 driven Ba/F3 cells with AZ960 blocked STAT5 phosphorylation and potently inhibited cell proliferation (GI50 = 0.025 μm). AZ960 demonstrated selectivity for TEL-JAK2-driven STAT5 phosphorylation and cell proliferation when compared with cell lines driven by similar fusions of the other JAK kinase family members. In the SET-2 human megakaryoblastic cell line, heterozygous for the JAK2 V617F allele, inhibition of JAK2 resulted in decreased STAT3/5 phosphorylation and inhibition of cell proliferation (GI50 = 0.033 μm) predominately through the induction of mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis. We provide evidence that JAK2 inhibition induces apoptosis by direct and indirect regulation of the anti-apoptotic protein BCL-xL. Inhibition of JAK2 blocked BCL-XL mRNA expression resulting in a reduction of BCL-xL protein levels. Additionally, inhibition of JAK2 resulted in decreased PIM1 and PIM2 mRNA expression. Decreased PIM1 mRNA corresponded with a decrease in Pim1 protein levels and inhibition of BAD phosphorylation at Ser112. Finally, small interfering RNA-mediated suppression of BCL-xL resulted in apoptotic cell death similar to the phenotype observed following JAK2 inhibition. These results suggest a model in which JAK2 promotes cell survival by signaling through the Pim/BAD/BCL-xL pathway. The Janus-associated kinase (JAK) 2The abbreviations used are: JAK, Janus-associated kinase; MPD, myeloproliferative disorder; ET, essential thrombocythemia; IMF, idiopathic myelofibrosis; STAT, signal transducers and activators of transcription; FACS, fluorescence-activated cell sorting; TMRE, tetramethylrhodamine ethyl ester; NS, non-silencing; siRNA, small interfering RNA; GAPDH, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; RT, reverse transcriptase; PARP, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase. family, comprised of four different protein-tyrosine kinases, JAK1, JAK2, JAK3, and TYK2, plays an important role in cellular survival, proliferation, and differentiation (1Rane S.G. Reddy E.P. Oncogene. 2000; 19: 5662-5679Crossref PubMed Scopus (380) Google Scholar). Several groups have identified a unique acquired mutation in the JAK2 gene encoding a valine to phenylalanine substitution, V617F, which results in constitutive kinase activity and has been shown to promote deregulated hematopoiesis (2Campbell P.J. Green A.R. N. Engl. J. Med. 2006; 355: 2452-2466Crossref PubMed Scopus (530) Google Scholar, 3Delhommeau F. Pisani D.F. James C. Casadevall N. Constantinescu S. Vainchenker W. Cell Mol. Life Sci. 2006; 63: 2939-2953Crossref PubMed Scopus (61) Google Scholar, 4Vainchenker, W., and Constantinescu, S. N. (2005) pp. 195–200 Hematology Am. Soc. Hematol. Educ. Prog.Google Scholar). JAK2 V617F is frequently detected in myeloproliferative disorders (MPDs), a group of clonal hematopoietic stem cell disorders that include polycythemia vera (PV), essential thrombocythemia (ET), and idiopathic myelofibrosis (IMF), all of which have the potential to transform to acute myeloid leukemia (2Campbell P.J. Green A.R. N. Engl. J. Med. 2006; 355: 2452-2466Crossref PubMed Scopus (530) Google Scholar). JAK2 V617F is constitutively phosphorylated and able to activate downstream signaling in the absence of cytokine stimulation when transfected into factor-dependent cell lines (4Vainchenker, W., and Constantinescu, S. N. (2005) pp. 195–200 Hematology Am. Soc. Hematol. Educ. Prog.Google Scholar). Furthermore, several groups have shown that hematopoietic stem cell expression of JAK2 V617F in the mouse adoptive transfer model results in a polycythemic phenotype followed by myelofibrosis, demonstrating a critical role for aberrant JAK2 signaling in the pathogenesis of the disease (2Campbell P.J. Green A.R. N. Engl. J. Med. 2006; 355: 2452-2466Crossref PubMed Scopus (530) Google Scholar). JAK kinases are key mediators of signaling downstream of a variety of cytokine and/or growth factor receptors. In particular, JAKs phosphorylate the signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT) family of proteins (1Rane S.G. Reddy E.P. Oncogene. 2000; 19: 5662-5679Crossref PubMed Scopus (380) Google Scholar, 5Kisseleva T. Bhattacharya S. Braunstein J. Schindler C.W. Gene (Amst.). 2002; 285: 1-24Crossref PubMed Scopus (907) Google Scholar). Once phosphorylated, STATs dimerize and translocate to the nucleus where they bind DNA and regulate expression of target genes (6Buettner R. Mora L.B. Jove R. Clin. Cancer Res. 2002; 8: 945-954PubMed Google Scholar, 7Yu H. Jove R. Nat. Rev. Cancer. 2004; 4: 97-105Crossref PubMed Scopus (1953) Google Scholar, 8Baker S.J. Rane S.G. Reddy E.P. Oncogene. 2007; 26: 6724-6737Crossref PubMed Scopus (210) Google Scholar). Aberrant STAT signaling has been reported in MPDs (9Teofili L. Martini M. Cenci T. Petrucci G. Torti L. Storti S. Guidi F. Leone G. Larocca L.M. Blood. 2007; 110: 354-359Crossref PubMed Scopus (57) Google Scholar) and a range of both hematologic and solid cancers (7Yu H. Jove R. Nat. Rev. Cancer. 2004; 4: 97-105Crossref PubMed Scopus (1953) Google Scholar, 10Ferrajoli A. Faderl S. Ravandi F. Estrov Z. Curr. Cancer Drug Targets. 2006; 6: 671-679Crossref PubMed Scopus (89) Google Scholar). JAK/STAT signaling has been implicated in driving both cell cycle regulation and anti-apoptotic pathways by controlling the transcription of key genes involved in these processes (6Buettner R. Mora L.B. Jove R. Clin. Cancer Res. 2002; 8: 945-954PubMed Google Scholar, 7Yu H. Jove R. Nat. Rev. Cancer. 2004; 4: 97-105Crossref PubMed Scopus (1953) Google Scholar). The anti-apoptotic protein BCL-xL plays an important role in promoting cell survival and is a key transcriptional target of STAT3/5 (8Baker S.J. Rane S.G. Reddy E.P. Oncogene. 2007; 26: 6724-6737Crossref PubMed Scopus (210) Google Scholar, 11Kim R. Biochem. Biophys. Res. 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Chem. 2006; 281: 18177-18183Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (88) Google Scholar); however, the mechanism underlying JAK2 V617F-driven cell survival has not been extensively investigated. In the present study, we have characterized the pharmacology of a novel JAK2 inhibitor, AZ960, and utilized it as a tool to evaluate the consequence of JAK2 V617F inhibition in the SET-2 cell line (35Quentmeier H. MacLeod R.A. Zaborski M. Drexler H.G. Leukemia. 2006; 20: 471-476Crossref PubMed Scopus (127) Google Scholar). The human megakaryoblastic cell line, SET-2, was established from the peripheral blood of a patient with leukemic transformation of ET (35Quentmeier H. MacLeod R.A. Zaborski M. Drexler H.G. Leukemia. 2006; 20: 471-476Crossref PubMed Scopus (127) Google Scholar, 36Uozumi K. Otsuka M. Ohno N. Moriyama T. Suzuki S. Shimotakahara S. Matsumura I. Hanada S. Arima T. Leukemia. 2000; 14: 142-152Crossref PubMed Scopus (35) Google Scholar). These cells are heterozygous for the JAK2 V617F allele and are able to proliferate independently of exogenous cytokines. Our results provide evidence that JAK2 inhibition induces a loss in mitochondrial transmembrane potential (Δψm) and apoptosis by direct and indirect regulation of the anti-apoptotic protein BCL-xL. Inhibition of JAK2 signaling blocked STAT5-mediated regulation of BCL-XL mRNA levels and resulted in reduced BCL-xL protein expression. Knockdown of BCL-xL induced a phenotype similar to that seen following JAK2 inhibition. Additionally, inhibition of JAK2 blocked production of the Pim1/2 kinases, and resulted in a corresponding decrease in BAD phosphorylation. These results suggest that JAK2 signals through the BCL-xL axis by directly regulating its expression and indirectly stabilizing its anti-apoptotic activity through the regulation of BAD. Reagents—AZ960 (S)-5-fluoro-2-(1-(4-fluorophenyl)ethylamino)-6-(5-methyl-1H-pyrazol-3-yl-amino)nicotinonitrile was synthesized by AstraZeneca R&D (Waltham, MA). Stock solutions were diluted in dimethyl sulfoxide (Sigma). The following primary antibodies were used: phospho-(Tyr694) STAT5 (BD Transduction Laboratories, San Jose, CA), STAT5 (Epitomics, Burlingame, CA and Cell Signaling Technology, Danvers, MA), Pim1 (12H8) and BAD (H-168, Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, CA), phospho-(Tyr705) STAT3, STAT3, phospho-(Ser112) BAD, BAD, cleaved PARP 19F4 and BCL-xL (Cell Signaling Technology). Cell Culture—SET-2 cells were purchased from DSMZ (Braunschweig, Germany) and cultured in RPMI containing 10% fetal bovine serum (Sigma) and 1% l-glutamine (Invitrogen). The kinase domains of the JAK family kinases (JAK1, JAK2, JAK3, and TYK2) were fused with the dimerization domain of TEL and transfected into Ba/F3 cells (37Lacronique V. Boureux A. Monni R. Dumon S. Mauchauffe M. Mayeux P. Gouilleux F. Berger R. Gisselbrecht S. Ghysdael J. Bernard O.A. Blood. 2000; 95: 2076-2083Crossref PubMed Google Scholar). All engineered Ba/F3 cells were cultured in RPMI containing fetal bovine serum (10%) and interleukin-3 (1 ng/ml, R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN). For all experimental procedures engineered TEL-JAK family member Ba/F3 cell lines were washed three times with media and plated in the absence of interleukin-3. Proliferation Assay—Cellular proliferation was evaluated using the fluorometric/colorimetric BIOSOURCE AlamarBlue Assay (Invitrogen) and read in the Spectra Max Gemini EM microplate reader (Molecular Devices, Sunnyvale, CA). SET-2 cells were plated at 20,000 cells/well, TEL-JAK2 Ba/F3 cells at 2000 cells/well, and all other TEL-JAKs at 5000 cells/well in 96-well plates. Cells were treated with compound 24 h after plating and grown for 72 h for SET-2 and 48 h for TEL-JAK Ba/F3 cells. Following the indicated growth period Alamar Blue (10 μl/well) was added, cells were incubated at 37 °C in 5% CO2 for 2 h, and fluorescence was measured at 545 (excitation) and 600 nm (emission). Data are normalized to percent of the control, and GI50 values (the concentration that causes 50% growth inhibition) were calculated using Xlfit4 version 4.2.2 for Microsoft Excel. Caspase 3/7 Activity Assay—SET-2 cells were plated in white-walled 96-well plates at 10,000 cells/well. Twenty-four hours later, cells were treated and caspase Glo 3/7 reagent (Promega, Madison, WI) was added at the indicated times according to the manufacturer's protocol. Caspase activity was measured in the Tecan Ultra 384 microplate reader (Durham, NC). Fluorescence-activated Cell Sorting (FACS) Analysis—Cells were seeded at 0.5 × 106 cells/ml and treated with either vehicle control (dimethyl sulfoxide) or AZ960 24 h later. Following the indicated incubations times, cells were collected by centrifugation, resuspended in phosphate-buffered saline, and stained with tetramethylrhodamine ethyl ester (TMRE, 0.15 μm, Sigma) for 30 min at 37 °C for the detection of mitochondrial Δψm. Cells were then washed with phosphate-buffered saline, resuspended in Annexin V binding buffer (BD Bioscience), and stained with Annexin V-FITC (BD Bioscience) for 15 min on ice. Cells were stained with Topro3 (Molecular Probes, Carlsbad, CA) just prior to FACS analysis on the FacsCalibur. Twenty thousand cells were counted and data were analyzed with FlowJo 7.1.3 software (Tree Star, Inc., Ashland, OR). Cell Transfection and RNA Interference—SET-2 cells were transfected with siRNAs using the Amaxa Nucleofector (Amaxa, Gaithersburg, MD) according to the manufacturer's protocol. Briefly, 5 × 106 cells per sample were transfected with 1 μm siRNA using Amaxa Solution-V and program X-13. A green fluorescent protein-expressing plasmid (Amaxa) was used to determine transfection efficiency. Silencer GAPDH siRNA, Negative Control number 1 siRNA, Silencer Validated JAK2 siRNAs (607, 608, 609), Silencer Validated BCL-xL siRNA (120717), and Silencer Pre-designed BCL-xL siRNAs (6876, 120716) were purchased from Ambion (Austin, TX). Proliferation assays using transfected cells were performed as described above. Twenty-four hours after transfection cell number and viability were determined using the Cellometer Auto T4 (Nexcelom Biosciences, Lawrence, MA), cells were plated at 20,000 cells/well in 96-well plates, and incubated for 72 before Alamar Blue detection. Western Immunoblotting—Cells were plated at 0.5 × 106 cells/ml in 6-well plates and treated 24 h later. Cells were lysed with SDS buffer (0.06 m Tris-HCl, 1% SDS, and 10% glycerol) and protein concentration was determined using a BCA Protein Assay (Pierce). Protein samples (50 μg) were loaded onto NuPage Novex gels (Invitrogen) and separated by electrophoresis according to the manufacturer's protocol. Separated proteins were transferred to NuPage nitrocellulose membranes (Invitrogen), blocked in 5% nonfat dry milk, and then incubated with primary antibody overnight according to the manufacturers guidelines. Membranes were incubated with either anti-rabbit or –mouse horseradish peroxidase-conjugated secondary antibody for 1 h (1:5000, Santa Cruz Biotechnology), and then exposed to SuperSignal West Dura Extended Duration Substrate (Pierce). In the cases when the LiCor Odyssey Infrared detection system was used, Licor blocking buffer and Licor anti-mouse and –rabbit fluorescent-conjugated secondary antibodies (1:15000, Licor Biosciences) were used. Protein expression was quantified using the Licor Odyssey. IC50 values (the concentration that causes 50% inhibition) were calculated by plotting percent inhibition of the phospho-signal normalized to total protein signal using Xlfit4 version 4.2.2 for Microsoft Excel. Gene Expression—Total RNA was isolated from cells using the Qiagen RNeasy kit (Qiagen) and quantified using the Agilent Bioanalyzer (Agilent). Total RNA (50 ng) was reverse transcribed and amplified using AgPath One-step RT-PCR reagents (Ambion) in the 7900HT Sequence Detection System (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) according to the manufacturer's protocol. TaqMan gene expression assays (Applied Biosystems) containing gene-specific primer/probe sets for the following genes: PIM1 (NM_002648), PIM2 (NM_006875), PIM3 (NM_001001852), BCL-XL (NM_138578), and hypoxanthineguanine phosphoribosyltransferase (NM_000194) were used for the detection of mRNA levels. Expression levels of tested genes were normalized to hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase expression using the comparative Ct method (Applied Biosystems). Enzyme Biochemical Assay and Kinase Profiling—Inhibition studies of AZ960 were performed using a recombinant JAK2 kinase (amino acids 808–1132, Millipore, catalog number 14-640) at a peptide (Tyk2 peptide, Cell Signaling Technologies) concentration of 100 nm and an ATP concentration of 15 μm. Concentrations of AZ960 ranging from 0.003 to 30 μm were used. The mode of inhibition and inhibition constant (KI) of AZ960 against JAK2 kinase were further evaluated by inhibition kinetics. Specifically, a series of JAK2-catalyzed reactions were set up in HEPES buffer (75 mm, pH 7.3) with a fixed concentration of peptide (FL-Ahx-IPTSPITTTYFFFKKK-COOH, Primm Biotech, MA), and varied concentrations of ATP and AZ960. The progress of each reaction was subsequently monitored by the Caliper LC3000 system (Caliper Life Sciences, MA), and the initial velocity of each reaction was extracted from the corresponding reaction time course. To define the mode of inhibition, initial velocities were plotted against corresponding ATP concentrations using Lineweaver-Burk plots and the characteristic convergence of the lines on the y axis demonstrated the competitiveness of AZ960 to ATP. Initial inspection of KI using the Michealis-Menten equation revealed that AZ960 is a tight-binding inhibitor of JAK2. Therefore, to precisely determine Ki of AZ960, the same set of data were fitted to Morrison's equation (Equation 1), and the resulting apparent KI (KI(app)) values were subsequently fitted to Equation 2 to determine the KI of AZ680 against JAK2 kinase. vi/v0=1−(E+I+KI(app)−(E+I+KI(app)) 2−4×E×I)/2×E (Eq. 1) KI(app)=(S+Km)/(Km/KI+S/(a×KI)) (Eq. 2) Where vi is the initial velocity of a reaction with the inhibitor and v0 is initial velocity of a reaction without the inhibitor; E is the effective enzyme concentration; I is the concentration of the inhibitor; S is the concentration of ATP; Km is the Michealis-Menten constant of ATP; and a is the Dixon factor. AZ960 was profiled against 83 kinases at three inhibitor concentrations (0.01, 0.10, and 1.0 μm) by Upstate Biotechnology (Billerica, MA) according to the manufacturers protocol. Statistical Analyses—Data were analyzed and graphed with either GraphPad prism version 2.01 (GraphPad Software, Inc., San Diego, CA) or Xlfit4 version 4.2.2 for Microsoft Excel. Oneway analysis of variance and post hoc Bonferroni comparison statistical tests were used. Significance was set at p < 0.05. AZ960 Is a Potent and Selective Inhibitor of JAK2—The pyrazolo nicotinonitrile, AZ960 (Fig. 1A), is a tight binding ATP competitive inhibitor of JAK2 enzyme activity with a Ki of 0.00045 μm. In enzymatic assays carried out at Km levels of ATP, AZ960 inhibited JAK2 enzyme activity with an IC50 of <0.003 μm. JAK3 enzyme activity showed an IC50 of 0.009 μm, demonstrating greater than 3-fold selectivity of AZ960 for JAK2 over JAK3 at Km for ATP. The kinase selectivity profile of AZ960 was further evaluated against a panel of 83 protein kinases at three inhibitor concentrations (0.01, 0.10, and 1.0 μm). The kinases were selected to represent the diversity of the kinome based on the kinase binding site similarity and the gatekeeper residue, a major determinant of small molecule kinase selectivity. AZ960 inhibited 11 kinases by greater than 50% at a concentration of 0.1 μm (Table 1). AZ960 inhibited 31 kinases less than 50% and showed no activity against the remaining 41 protein kinases tested at a concentration of 0.1 μm (supplemental Table S1).TABLE 1Kinase selectivity profile of AZ960KinaseAZ9600.01 μm0.10 μm1.0 μm% activityJAK2433TrkA921Aurora-A27186ARK53563ALK62144CaMKII71296Flt476222FGFR177184LIMK1783810BrSK285357FAK87176 Open table in a new tab Selectivity within the JAK family of kinases was more thoroughly evaluated through the use of an isogenic cell line panel. The JH1 catalytic domains of JAK1, JAK2, JAK3, and TYK2 were fused with the oligomerization domain of the protein TEL, resulting in constitutive activation of the kinase activity and transformation of the Ba/F3 cell line (normally interleukin-3 dependent; Ref. 37Lacronique V. Boureux A. Monni R. Dumon S. Mauchauffe M. Mayeux P. Gouilleux F. Berger R. Gisselbrecht S. Ghysdael J. Bernard O.A. Blood. 2000; 95: 2076-2083Crossref PubMed Google Scholar). These cell lines were used to measure the downstream phosphorylation of STAT5 and interleukin-3 independent proliferation in response to inhibitor treatment. AZ960 inhibited the phosphorylation of STAT5 in TEL-JAK2 cells with an average (n = 3) IC50 of 0.015 ± 0.006 μm (Fig. 1B). AZ960 demonstrated 15–30-fold selectivity for TEL-JAK2-driven STAT5 phosphorylation compared with cell lines driven by other JAK kinase family members (TEL-JAK1, -JAK3, and -TYK2, Fig. 1B). Inhibition of TEL-JAK2-mediated STAT5 phosphorylation by AZ960 was closely correlated with potent inhibition of the TEL-JAK2 driven cell proliferation, with an average (n = 4) GI50 of 0.025 ± 0.001 μm (Fig. 1C). AZ960 was less potent in inhibiting the proliferation of the TEL-JAK1, -JAK3, and -Tyk2 cell lines with GI50 values of 0.230 ± 0.074, 0.279 ± 0.029, and 0.214 ± 0.151 μm, respectively (Fig. 1C). Thus, AZ960 demonstrates nearly 10-fold selectivity compared with other JAK family members for cellular proliferation, consistent with inhibition of STAT5 phosphorylation. Effects of JAK2 Inhibition on STAT Signaling and Proliferation in SET-2 Cells—The human megakaryoblastic cell line SET-2 is heterozygous for the JAK2 V617F mutation, and was used as a model to evaluate the effects of JAK2 inhibition on cell signaling and proliferation. SET-2 cells were treated with increasing concentrations of AZ960 and STAT3 and STAT5 phosphorylation were evaluated by Western immunoblotting. As shown in Fig. 2A, a dose-dependent decrease in both STAT3 and STAT5 phosphorylation levels was observed, with average (n = 3) IC50 values of 0.014 ± 0.007 and 0.022 ± 0.009 μm, respectively. To determine the effects of JAK2 inhibition on SET-2 cell proliferation, the cells were treated with increasing concentrations of AZ960 for 72 h. Similar to the effects on STAT3/5 phosphorylation, AZ960 potently inhibited SET-2 cell proliferation with an average (n = 3) GI50 of 0.033 ± 0.020 μm (Fig. 2B), consistent with its activity in the TEL-JAK2 Ba/F3 cell line. To confirm that the observed pharmacology of AZ960 in SET-2 cells is dependent on JAK2 inhibition, three siRNAs directed against JAK2 were evaluated for their effect on signaling and proliferation. Both a non-silencing siRNA (NS) and GAPDH siRNA were used as negative controls. JAK2 siRNA 1 and 2 showed a marked decrease in JAK2 protein expression as well as STAT5 phosphorylation, whereas JAK2 siRNA 3 had no effect on either JAK2 protein expression or STAT5 phosphorylation, thus JAK2 siRNA 3 provided an additional negative siRNA control (Fig. 2C). siRNA-mediated silencing of JAK2 by siRNAs 1 and 2 significantly reduced SET-2 cell proliferation as compared with the non-silencing control (p < 0.05, Fig. 2D), similar to AZ960 (Fig. 2B). Taken together, these data indicate that inhibition of JAK2 in SET-2 cells results in inhibition of STAT phosphorylation and cellular proliferation. In addition, both AZ960 and JAK2-siRNA treatments result in a net cell loss that suggests induction of cell death. Inhibition of JAK2 Induces Apoptotic Signals in SET-2 Cells—Several lines of evidence have indicated that JAK2 inhibition promotes cell cycle arrest and/or apoptosis (32Pardanani A. Hood J. Lasho T. Levine R.L. Martin M.B. Noronha G. Finke C. Mak C.C. Mesa R. Zhu H. Soll R. Gilliland D.G. Tefferi A. Leukemia. 2007; 21: 1658-1668Crossref PubMed Scopus (222) Google Scholar, 33Walters D.K. Goss V.L. Stoffregen E.P. Gu T.L. Lee K. Nardone J. McGreevey L. Heinrich M.C. Deininger M.W. Polakiewicz R. Dr

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