TY - JOUR A1 - Tilstam, Pathricia V. A1 - Gijbels, Marion J. A1 - Habbeddine, Mohamed A1 - Cudejko, Celine A1 - Asare, Yaw A1 - Theelen, Wendy A1 - Zhou, Baixue A1 - Döring, Yvonne A1 - Drechsler, Maik A1 - Pawig, Lukas A1 - Simsekyilmaz, Sakine A1 - Koenen, Rory R. A1 - de Winther, Menno P. J. A1 - Lawrence, Toby A1 - Bernhagen, Jürgen A1 - Zernecke, Alma A1 - Weber, Christian A1 - Noels, Heidi T1 - Bone Marrow-Specific Knock-In of a Non-Activatable Ikkα Kinase Mutant Influences Haematopoiesis but Not Atherosclerosis in Apoe-Deficient Mice JF - PLOS ONE N2 - Background: The Ikkα kinase, a subunit of the NF-kappa B-activating IKK complex, has emerged as an important regulator of inflammatory gene expression. However, the role of Ikkα-mediated phosphorylation in haematopoiesis and atherogenesis remains unexplored. In this study, we investigated the effect of a bone marrow (BM)-specific activation-resistant Ikk alpha mutant knock-in on haematopoiesis and atherosclerosis in mice. Methods and Results: Apolipoprotein E (Apoe)-deficient mice were transplanted with BM carrying an activation-resistant Ikkα gene (Ikkα(AA/AA) Apoe(-/-)) or with Ikkα(+/+) Apoe(-/-) BM as control and were fed a high-cholesterol diet for 8 or 13 weeks. Interestingly, haematopoietic profiling by flow cytometry revealed a significant decrease in B-cells, regulatory T-cells and effector memory T-cells in Ikkα(AA/AA) Apoe(-/-) BM-chimeras, whereas the naive T-cell population was increased. Surprisingly, no differences were observed in the size, stage or cellular composition of atherosclerotic lesions in the aorta and aortic root of Ikkα(AA/AA) Apoe(-/-) vs Ikkα(+/+) Apoe(-/-) BM-transplanted mice, as shown by histological and immunofluorescent stainings. Necrotic core sizes, apoptosis, and intracellular lipid deposits in aortic root lesions were unaltered. In vitro, BM-derived macrophages from Ikkα(AA/AA) Apoe(-/-) vs Ikkα(+/+) Apoe(-/-) mice did not show significant differences in the uptake of oxidized low-density lipoproteins (oxLDL), and, with the exception of Il-12, the secretion of inflammatory proteins in conditions of Tnf-α or oxLDL stimulation was not significantly altered. Furthermore, serum levels of inflammatory proteins as measured with a cytokine bead array were comparable. Conclusion: Our data reveal an important and previously unrecognized role of haematopoietic Ikkα kinase activation in the homeostasis of B-cells and regulatory T-cells. However, transplantation of Ikkα AA mutant BM did not affect atherosclerosis in Apoe(-/-) mice. This suggests that the diverse functions of Ikkα in haematopoietic cells may counterbalance each other or may not be strong enough to influence atherogenesis, and reveals that targeting haematopoietic Ikkα kinase activity alone does not represent a therapeutic approach. KW - NF-KAPPA-B KW - regulatory T cells KW - indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase KW - dendritic cells KW - gene expression KW - increases atherosclersosis KW - receptor KW - inhibition KW - pathway KW - beta Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-117450 VL - 9 IS - 2 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Graf, Nicolas A1 - Li, Zhoulei A1 - Herrmann, Ken A1 - Weh, Daniel A1 - Aichler, Michaela A1 - Slawska, Jolanta A1 - Walch, Axel A1 - Peschel, Christian A1 - Schwaiger, Markus A1 - Buck, Andreas K. A1 - Dechow, Tobias A1 - Keller, Ulrich T1 - Positron emission tomographic monitoring of dual phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase and mTOR inhibition in anaplastic large cell lymphoma JF - Oncotargets and Therapy N2 - Background: Dual phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibition offers an attractive therapeutic strategy in anaplastic large cell lymphoma depending on oncogenic nucleophosmin-anaplastic lymphoma kinase (NPM-ALK) signaling. We tested the efficacy of a novel dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitor, NVP-BGT226 (BGT226), in two anaplastic large cell lymphoma cell lines in vitro and in vivo and performed an early response evaluation with positron emission tomography (PET) imaging using the standard tracer, 2-deoxy-2-[F-18] fluoro-D-glucose (FDG) and the thymidine analog, 3'-deoxy-3'-[F-18] fluorothymidine (FLT). Methods: The biological effects of BGT226 were determined in vitro in the NPM-ALK positive cell lines SU-DHL-1 and Karpas299 by 3-[4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay, propidium iodide staining, and biochemical analysis of PI3K and mTOR downstream signaling. FDG-PET and FLT-PET were performed in immunodeficient mice bearing either SU-DHL-1 or Karpas299 xenografts at baseline and 7 days after initiation of treatment with BGT226. Lymphomas were removed for immunohistochemical analysis of proliferation and apoptosis to correlate PET findings with in vivo treatment effects. Results: SU-DHL-1 cells showed sensitivity to BGT226 in vitro, with cell cycle arrest in G0/G1 phase and an IC50 in the low nanomolar range, in contrast with Karpas299 cells, which were mainly resistant to BGT226. In vivo, both FDG-PET and FLT-PET discriminated sensitive from resistant lymphoma, as indicated by a significant reduction of tumor-to-background ratios on day 7 in treated SU-DHL-1 lymphoma-bearing animals compared with the control group, but not in animals with Karpas299 xenografts. Imaging results correlated with a marked decrease in the proliferation marker Ki67, and a slight increase in the apoptotic marker, cleaved caspase 3, as revealed by immunostaining of explanted lymphoma tissue. Conclusion: Dual PI3K/mTOR inhibition using BGT226 is effective in ALK-positive anaplastic large cell lymphoma and can be monitored with both FDG-PET and FLT-PET early on in the course of therapy. KW - mammalian target of rapamycin KW - phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase KW - lymphoma KW - early response KW - NVP-BGT226 KW - non-hodgkins-lymphoma KW - signaling pathway KW - FDG-PET KW - in-vivo KW - target KW - tumor KW - imaging proliferation KW - inhibition KW - positron emission tomography Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-117915 VL - 7 ER -