Nurse-like cells control the activity of chronic lymphocytic leukemia B cells via galectin-1

CROCCI D; MORANDE P; DERGAN-DYLON S; BORGE M; TOSCANO M; STUPIRSKI J; BEZARES RF; SANCHEZ AVALOS J; NARBAITZ M; GAMBERALE R; RABINOVICH G; GIORDANO M

LEUKEMIA

NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2012

0887-6924

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells are preferentiallyactivated in so-called proliferation centers frequently found inlymph nodes and bone marrow from CLL patients.1 In these‘privileged’ sites leukemic cells establish close contact with avariety of cell types that provide long-term support for theirsurvival and progression. In addition, CLL cells favor theestablishment of immunosuppressive microenvironments byaltering the cytokine milieu.2 Galectin 1 (Gal1), an endogenousb-galactoside-binding lectin found at sites of inflammation andtumor growth, displays pro-survival activity on malignant cells asdemonstrated for CD45RA(!) primary myeloma cells.3 Moreover,it controls tumor cell proliferation and invasiveness and has keyroles in tumor-immune escape by dampening T-cell-mediatedimmunity.4 In Hodgkin lymphoma, Gal1 is overexpressed in Reed–Sternberg cells, which is a predictive biomarker of diseaseprogression and is responsible for creating the Th2/regulatoryT-cell-skewed microenvironment typical of this lymphoproliferativedisease.5 These unique characteristics of Gal1 prompted us toinvestigate its potential role in CLL biology