Revisiting the role of interleukin-8 in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

RISNIK, DENISE; PODAZA, ENRIQUE; ALMEJÚN, MARÍA B.; COLADO, ANA; ELÍAS, ESTEBAN E.; BEZARES, RAIMUNDO F.; FERNÁNDEZ-GRECCO, HORACIO; CRANCO, SANTIAGO; SÁNCHEZ-ÁVALOS, JULIO C.; BORGE, MERCEDES; GAMBERALE, ROMINA; GIORDANO, MIRTA

Scientific Reports

Nature Publishing Group

Año: 2017 vol. 7

The proliferation and survival of malignant B cells in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) depend on signals from the microenvironment in lymphoid tissues. Among a plethora of soluble factors, IL-8 has been considered one of the most relevant to support CLL B cell progression in an autocrine fashion, even though the expression of IL-8 receptors, CXCR1 and CXCR2, on leukemic B cells has not been reported. Here we show that circulating CLL B cells neither express CXCR1 or CXCR2 nor they respond to exogenous IL-8 when cultured in vitro alone or in the presence of monocytes/nurse-like cells. By intracellular staining and ELISA we show that highly purified CLL B cells do not produce IL-8 spontaneously or upon activation through the B cell receptor. By contrast, we found that a minor proportion (