comparative effects of nucleostemin silencing in human molt-4 and jurkat leukemia t-all cells

nucleostemin (ns), a stem cell-abundant nucleolar protein, is critical for maintaining the self-renewal and proliferative properties of normal and cancerous stem cells. recent data suggests that ns signaling is important for proliferation of t-cells and leukemia cells. this study was conducted to verify the role of ns in pathogenesis and treatment of t-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia (t-all). our results revealed that rna interference-mediated ns silencing primarily affected clonogenicproperty of t-all cells by limiting their self-renewal potential in vitro .these effects were accompanied with inhibition of proliferation and early apoptosis in jurkat cells (p53-null) while late apoptosis in molt-4 (p53 functional) t-all cells. collectively, our results suggest that ns is a critical regulator in self-renewal and apoptosis of differentt-all cells. this suggests therapeutic potential of this gene in leukemia.