Different BCR/Abl protein suppression patterns as a converging trait of chronic myeloid leukemia cell adaptation to energy restriction

BCR/Abl protein drives the onset and progression of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML). We previously showed that BCR/Abl protein is suppressed in low oxygen, where viable cells retain stem cell potential. This study addressed the regulation of BCR/Abl protein expression under oxygen or glucose shortage, characteristic of the in vivo environment where cells resistant to tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKi) persist. We investigated, at transcriptional, translational and post-translational level, the mechanisms involved in BCR/Abl suppression in K562 and KCL22 CML cells. BCR/abl mRNA steady-state analysis and ChIP-qPCR on BCR promoter revealed that BCR/abl transcriptional activity is reduced in K562 cells under oxygen shortage. The SUnSET assay showed an overall reduction of protein synthesis under oxygen/glucose shortage in both cell lines. However, only low oxygen decreased polysome-associated BCR/abl mRNA significantly in KCL22 cells, suggesting a decreased BCR/Abl translation. The proteasome inhibitor MG132 or the pan-caspase inhibitor z-VAD-fmk extended BCR/Abl expression under oxygen/glucose shortage in K562 cells. Glucose shortage induced autophagy-dependent BCR/Abl protein degradation in KCL22 cells. Overall, our results showed that energy restriction induces different cell-specific BCR/Abl protein suppression patterns, which represent a converging route to TKi-resistance of CML cells. Thus, the interference with BCR/Abl expression in environment-adapted CML cells may become a useful implement to current therapy.