Regulation of transcription factors NFκB and AP‐1 following tumour necrosis factor‐α treatment of cells from chronic B cell leukaemia patients

Malignant B lymphocytes from patients with B-chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (B-CLL) or hairy cell leukaemia (HCL) are refractory in vitro to mitogenic stimulation by several agents which trigger proliferation of normal B cells. Tumour necrosis factor (TNF) is a growth factor for these malignant cells, although the proliferative response is usually small. TNF regulates some of its cellular responses via induction of the transcription factors NF kappa B and AP-1 (jun/ fos). The induction of NF kappa B by TNF is mediated via a novel signalling pathway involving the generation of reactive oxidative intermediates. Induction of jun and fos proteins (polypeptide components of AP-1) are mediated via pathways involving protein kinase C and the protein kinase encoded by the raf proto-oncogene. Here we have used an electrophoretic mobility shift assay to show that TNF induced NF kappa B in malignant cells isolated from 3/3 HCL and 15/15 B-CLL patients. By contrast, phorbol myristate acetate (PMA), a direct activator of protein kinase C, failed to activate this transcription factor in 1/1 HCL and 5/5 B-CLL isolates. The induction of jun and fos proteins (as detected by Western blot analysis) showed greater heterogeneity. Nuclear jun was induced by TNF in 5/12 chronic B cell leukaemia isolates. PMA induced this protein in 4/5 samples. Nuclear fos was induced by TNF in only 2/12 isolates and by PMA in 2/5. The data suggest that the pathways for the activation of jun and fos by TNF are defective in some B-CLL and HCL cells and that these defects may be heterogeneous. The induction of AP-1 is crucial in securing the mitogenic response to TNF. It is therefore plausible that these lesions may contribute to the refractory nature of B-CLL and HCL cells to proliferative stimuli in vitro.