Affiliation:
1. Engineering Research Center of Cell & Therapeutic Antibody, Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
2. Nanozyme Medical Center, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
3. Core Facility and Technical Service Center, School of Pharmacy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Abstract
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is characterized by the abnormal proliferation and differentiation arrest of myeloid progenitor cells. The clinical treatment of AML remains challenging. Promoting AML cell differentiation is a valid strategy, but effective differentiation drugs are lacking for most types of AML. In this study, we generated Tg(drl:hoxa9) zebrafish, in which hoxa9 overexpression was driven in hematopoietic cells and myeloid differentiation arrest was exhibited. Using Tg(drl:hoxa9) embryos, we performed chemical screening and identified four FDA-approved drugs, ethacrynic acid, khellin, oxcarbazepine, and alendronate, that efficiently restored myeloid differentiation. The four drugs also induced AML cell differentiation, with ethacrynic acid being the most effective. By an RNA-seq analysis, we found that during differentiation, ethacrynic acid activated the IL-17 and MAPK signaling pathways, which are known to promote granulopoiesis. Furthermore, we found that ethacrynic acid enhanced all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA)-induced differentiation, and both types of signaling converged on the IL-17/MAPK pathways. Inhibiting the IL-17/MAPK pathways impaired ethacrynic acid and ATRA-induced differentiation. In addition, we showed that ethacrynic acid is less toxic to embryogenesis and less disruptive to normal hematopoiesis than ATRA. Thus, the combination of ethacrynic acid and ATRA may have broader clinical applications. In conclusion, through zebrafish-aided screening, our study identified four drugs that can be repurposed to induce AML differentiation, thus providing new agents for AML therapy.
Funder
National Natural Science Foundation of China
The Open Platform on Target Identification of Innovative Drugs of Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai