The consequences of CCL23/CCR1 axis signaling in KMT2A-MLLT3 acute myeloid leukemia
Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) is caused by abnormal proliferation of immature blood stem cells. Our lab focuses on an AML subgroup accounting for almost 20% of pediatric AML and characterized by a chromosomal translocation that generates the gene fusion: KMT2A-MLLT3 (KM3). Interestingly, RNA-seq analysis of our KM3 AML model and AML patient samples has revealed that the chemokine CCL23 and its corresponding receptor CCR1 are highly upregulated in this disease. Although it has been reported that CCL23 and CCR1 are implicated in leukocyte trafficking and development of inflammation, the exact roles of these two proteins in leukemia are unknown.  To illustrate the effects of CCL23/CCR1 signaling in the KMT2A-MLLT3 rearranged leukemia we employed the enhanced bystander bioluminescence resonance energy transfer 2 (ebBRET2) technique along with phospho-immunoblots assays. Our results revealed that CCL23/CCR1 axis signaling activates multiple intermolecular signaling effectors, including Gi2, G12/13, and β-arrestin1/2 albeit with a bias towards β-arrestin recruitment. We also showed that the CCR1 receptor exhibits a constitutive activity which can couple to a G-protein mediated pathway to activate the MAPK cascade. Finally, we showed that CCL23/CCR1 axis signaling causes an activation of ERK1/2 in AML cell lines potentially through a β-arrestin-mediated pathway.   These results indicate that the CCL23/CCR1 axis signaling activates several biological pathways than can provide major advantages for the AML disease development and progression thus presenting both CCL23 and CCR1 as interesting candidates for targeted therapy against KMT2A-MLLT3 AML.
KMT2A-MLLT3 AML CCL23/CCR1 axis signaling eBRET2 MAPK cascade activation Biased agonism CCR1 constitutive activity β-arrestin-dependent signaling