Comprehensive analysis of PTEN status in Sezary syndrome

Blood. 2013 Nov 14;122(20):3511-20. doi: 10.1182/blood-2013-06-510578. Epub 2013 Sep 23.

Abstract

Sézary syndrome (SS) is an incurable leukemic variant of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma characterized by recurrent chromosomal alterations, among which, chromosome 10q deletion is very frequent. In this study, we investigated the PTEN status, on locus 10q23, in 44 SS patients; our findings show that PTEN is deleted in 36% of SS cases, whereas PTEN downregulation is observed in almost all of the samples evaluated by quantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting analysis. Neither DNA sequence mutation nor promoter hypermethylation were found at the PTEN locus, but we demonstrate that PTEN level can be also reduced by a group of miRs previously found upregulated and of prognostic relevance in SS; particularly, miR-21, miR-106b, and miR-486 were able to control PTEN abundance either in vitro or in vivo. Finally, because reduced PTEN activates the PI3/AKT-mediated pathway of cell growth and survival, we demonstrate that PTEN deficiency is associated with activated AKT in skin resident but not circulating SS cells, suggesting that the cutaneous milieu may strongly contribute to the SS cell growth. To our knowledge, this is the first study fully exploring the PTEN status in a large cohort of SS patients, unveiling potential elements of clinical utility in this malignancy.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Chromosomes, Human, Pair 10 / ultrastructure
  • DNA Methylation
  • DNA Mutational Analysis
  • Down-Regulation
  • Female
  • Gene Deletion
  • Gene Dosage
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • MicroRNAs / genetics
  • Middle Aged
  • Neoplasm Proteins / analysis
  • Neoplasm Proteins / genetics
  • Neoplasm Proteins / physiology*
  • PTEN Phosphohydrolase / analysis
  • PTEN Phosphohydrolase / genetics
  • PTEN Phosphohydrolase / physiology*
  • Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / physiology
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / physiology
  • RNA, Messenger / biosynthesis
  • RNA, Neoplasm / biosynthesis
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Sezary Syndrome / genetics
  • Sezary Syndrome / metabolism*
  • Signal Transduction
  • Skin / metabolism
  • Skin / pathology

Substances

  • MicroRNAs
  • Neoplasm Proteins
  • RNA, Messenger
  • RNA, Neoplasm
  • Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases
  • AKT1 protein, human
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt
  • PTEN Phosphohydrolase
  • PTEN protein, human