* Guilty bystanders: nurse-like cells as a model of microenvironmental support for leukemic lymphocytes.
- B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) is one of the most common leukemias among the elderly and, despite many efforts, still stays incurable. Recent studies point to the microenvironment as the critical factor providing leukemic lymphocytes with pro-survival signals. Thus, the neighboring cells appear to be a perfect target for antileukemic therapy. Nurse-like cells (NLCs) largely contribute to CLL microenvironmental support. We developed the CLL lymphocyte/NLC co-culture model for the investigation of microenvironmental interactions. Viability and apoptosis were investigated in CLL lymphocytes treated with dexamethasone (DEX) and chlorambucil (CLB), with and without NLCs' support. For the first time, the capacity of DEX and CLB to affect NLCs viability was also evaluated. Apoptosis-associated gene expression profiles of leukemic lymphocytes ex vivo and cultured with NLCs were assessed by expression arrays. CLL lymphocytes escaped spontaneous apoptosis for several months when cultured with NLCs. The presence of NLCs significantly reduced apoptosis induced with DEX and CLB (p < 0.001; p = 0.012, respectively), and their protective effect was more evident than the effect of recombinant SDF1. Both DEX and CLB also decreased NLCs viability, but to a lesser extent (mean viability in DEX-treated cultures was 37.79% in NLCs compared to 29.24% in lymphocytes). NLCs induced the expression of important anti-apoptotic genes in cultured CLL lymphocytes; median expression of BCL2, SURVIVIN, BCL2A1, and XIAP was significantly higher as compared to ex vivo status. The CLL lymphocyte/NLC co-culture makes up the convenient and close to the natural-state model for studying the relationship between leukemic cells and the microenvironment. Direct cell-to-cell contact with NLCs increases the expression of anti-apoptotic genes in CLL lymphocytes, thus protecting them against induced apoptosis. As the effect of antileukemic drugs is not so apparent in NLCs, the combined therapy targeted at both lymphocytes and the microenvironment should be considered for CLL patients. Simultaneous aiming at the disruption of several different signaling pathways and/or anti-apoptotic proteins may further improve treatment efficiency.
=>表現すること, 式, 表現, 表示, 言い回し, 表現法, 表情
Overview of noun expression
The noun expression has 9 senses (first 6 from tagged texts)
1. (23) expression, look, aspect, facial expression, face -- (the feelings expressed on a person's
face; "a sad expression"; "a look of triumph"; "an angry face")
2. (18) expression, manifestation, reflection, reflexion -- (expression without words; "tears are an
expression of grief"; "the pulse is a reflection of the heart's condition")
3. (15) expression, verbal expression, verbalism -- (the communication (in speech or writing) of
your beliefs or opinions; "expressions of good will"; "he helped me find verbal expression for my
ideas"; "the idea was immediate but the verbalism took hours")
4. (5) saying, expression, locution -- (a word or phrase that particular people use in particular
situations; "pardon the expression")
5. (4) formulation, expression -- (the style of expressing yourself; "he suggested a better
formulation"; "his manner of expression showed how much he cared")
6. (4) formula, expression -- (a group of symbols that make a mathematical statement)
7. expression -- ((genetics) the process of expressing a gene)
8. construction, grammatical construction, expression -- (a group of words that form a constituent
of a sentence and are considered as a single unit; "I concluded from his awkward constructions that
he was a foreigner")
9. expression -- (the act of forcing something out by squeezing or pressing; "the expression of milk
from her breast")
--- WordNet end ---