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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.

Sec. Inflammation

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1569159

This article is part of the Research Topic Role of Extracellular Vesicles in Inflammation View all 4 articles

Acute myeloid leukemia-derived Extracellular Vesicles induced DNA methylation changes responsible for inflammatory program in normal Hematopoietic Stem Progenitor Cells

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 Laboratory of preclinical and translational research, IRCCS Centro di Riferimento Oncologico della Basilicata CROB, Rionero in Vulture, Italy
  • 2 Operative Unit of Clinical Pathology, 'Renato Dulbecco' Hospital, Catanzaro, Calabria, Italy
  • 3 Trasfusional Medicine Department, Puglia Cord Blood Bank (CBB), Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza Hospital, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy
  • 4 Unit of Clinical Pathology, IRCCS Centro di Riferimento Oncologico della Basilicata CROB, Rionero in Vulture, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) cells communicate with surrounding normal cells, including hematopoietic stem progenitor cells (HSPCs), in the bone marrow, and modify their fate supporting tumor growth. This communication can be mediated by Extracellular Vesicles (EVs), small vectors carrying a range of tumor molecular information. One of the hallmarks of AML is the aberrant DNA methylation. It is not known if and how AML cells can modify the epigenomic profile of healthy HSPCs. Here, we investigated the DNA methylation profile of HSPCs after exposure to AML derived-EVs. Methods: Cord blood derived-HSPCs were treated with AML cell line derived-EVs for 20 hours and then their DNA methylation profile was analyzed by methylation array. We cross-referenced differential methylated genes (dmGs) with differential expressed genes (deGs) obtained by gene expression profile of same EV treated-HSPCs. Gene ontology was performed on dmGs and deGs. To confirm the expression of some genes, digital PCR was applied.Results: AML-EVs induced DNA methylation changes in HSPCs after short time exposure, showing 110-890 dmGs. In particular, we reported a DNA hypo-methylation in both promoter and body regions. DmGs showed an enrichment in hematopoietic and immunological processes, inflammation, cell movement and AML pathways. The intersection between dmGs and deGs identified 20 common genes, including DSE, SEMA4A, NFKB1 and MTSS1, whose over-expression could be associated with the hypo-methylation of their gene body, and other ones, such as SLA and CUTA whose down-expression could be associated with the hypo-methylated promoter. These deGs were involved in NF-kB pathway, interleukin mediate Toll like receptor signaling and, of note, in tumor.Conclusion: This study is the first proof-of-concept that AML-EVs were able to induce changes in DNA methylation of HSPCs modulating the expression of genes involved in inflammatory processes capable of modifying normal hematopoiesis towards leukemic like processes.

    Keywords: Acute Myeloid Leukemia, extracellular vesicles, Hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells, DNA Methylation, Differentially expressed genes, Inflammation, Hematopoiesis, Leukemogenesis

    Received: 31 Jan 2025; Accepted: 24 Mar 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Lamorte, Calice, Trino, Santodirocco, Caivano, De Luca and Laurenzana. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Giovanni Calice, Laboratory of preclinical and translational research, IRCCS Centro di Riferimento Oncologico della Basilicata CROB, Rionero in Vulture, Italy
    Antonella Caivano, Unit of Clinical Pathology, IRCCS Centro di Riferimento Oncologico della Basilicata CROB, Rionero in Vulture, Italy
    Luciana De Luca, Unit of Clinical Pathology, IRCCS Centro di Riferimento Oncologico della Basilicata CROB, Rionero in Vulture, Italy

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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