PLoS ONE (Jan 2012)

Knocking down low molecular weight protein tyrosine phosphatase (LMW-PTP) reverts chemoresistance through inactivation of Src and Bcr-Abl proteins.

  • Paula A Ferreira,
  • Roberta R Ruela-de-Sousa,
  • Karla C S Queiroz,
  • Ana Carolina S Souza,
  • Renato Milani,
  • Ronaldo Aloise Pilli,
  • Maikel P Peppelenbosch,
  • Jeroen den Hertog,
  • Carmen V Ferreira

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0044312
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 9
p. e44312

Abstract

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The development of multidrug resistance (MDR) limits the efficacy of continuous chemotherapeutic treatment in chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Low molecular weight protein tyrosine phosphatase (LMW-PTP) is up-regulated in several cancers and has been associated to poor prognosis. This prompted us to investigate the involvement of LMW-PTP in MDR. In this study, we investigated the role of LMW-PTP in a chemoresistant CML cell line, Lucena-1. Our results showed that LMW-PTP is highly expressed and 7-fold more active in Lucena-1 cells compared to K562 cells, the non-resistant cell line. Knocking down LMW-PTP in Lucena-1 cells reverted chemoresistance to vincristine and imatinib mesylate, followed by a decrease of Src and Bcr-Abl phosphorylation at the activating sites, inactivating both kinases. On the other hand, overexpression of LMW-PTP in K562 cells led to chemoresistance to vincristine. Our findings describe, for the first time, that LMW-PTP cooperates with MDR phenotype, at least in part, through maintaining Src and Bcr-Abl kinases in more active statuses. These findings suggest that inhibition of LMW-PTP may be a useful strategy for the development of therapies for multidrug resistant CML.