Abstract 2364: The phosphatase PRL-3 is a pro-survival oncogene in acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Abstract

Abstract PRL-3, phosphatase of regenerating liver 3, is one member of a subfamily of protein tyrosine phosphatases that belongs to the dual-specificity phosphatases (DSPs). Accumulating evidence shows that PRL-3 is a biomarker of tumor progression and metastasis and high PRL-3 expression is associated with reduced overall and disease-free survival in a variety of solid tumors, suggesting it's importance in tumor recurrence. However, the role for PRL-3 in leukemia relapse has not yet been described. We have found that PRL-3 contributes to Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) malignancy by acting as a pro-survival gene, both in vitro and in vivo. Expression of PRL-3 in a MYC-induced zebrafish T-cell ALL model showed that PRL-3 expressing ALL had shorter latency and higher penetrance, compared with the fish injected with rag2:Myc; rag2:GFP alone. Growth after transplantation at low cell number was also significantly faster in the PRL3 expressing T-ALL, suggesting that PRL-3 plays an important role in ALL development and progression. We found PRL-3 to be highly expressed in a majority of human ALL compared to normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNC), which suggests clinical relevance. Analysis of gene expression microarray data of 119 patient samples reveals that PRL-3 was highly expressed in 58% of the patients. In addition, PRL-3 had the highest expression in the most aggressive and treatment resistant subgroups of T-ALL, the TAL/LMO and Immature subtypes. PRL-3 is also expressed by human T-ALL cell lines using quantitative RT- PCR and immunoblotting. PRL-3 knockdown leads to significant apoptosis in T-ALL cells. The treatment of T-ALL cells using small molecule drugs including 2-cyano-2-ene-ester compound (Analog 3) and thieno [3,2-b] pyridine 1-oxide (thienopyridone) , also resulted in significant growth inhibition of T-ALL cells in part through >4-fold increase in apoptosis, measured by annexin V staining. In summary, our study provides evidence for a role of PRL-3 in T- ALL malignancy, and suggests that PRL3 may be a useful drug target in the treatment of this disease. Our future studies are focused on identifying the mechanisms by which PRL3 promotes T-ALL progression and survival. Citation Format: Min Wei, Kristin O'Leary, Jinpeng Liu, Chi Wang, Jessica Blackburn. The phosphatase PRL-3 is a pro-survival oncogene in acute lymphoblastic leukemia [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2364.