Transformation of interleukin-3–dependent cells without participation of Stat5/bcl-xL: cooperation of akt with raf/erk leads to p65 nuclear factor kB–mediated antiapoptosis involving c-IAP2

Tyrosine kinase oncogenes such as p210BCR-ABL activate multiple signal pathways. As a result, it is difficult to infer the functional relevance of a pathway acting alone or in cooperation with another. One or 2 second-tier kinases represented in the p21ras and phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI-3-kinase) pathways (activated RafCAAX and gag-akt, respectively) were expressed in parental H7 interleukin-3 (IL-3)–dependent myeloid cells. IL-3–dependent cells served, independently, as recipients of p210BCR-ABL, which activated p21ras and PI-3-kinase pathways, including raf/ erk and akt, respectively, en route to transformation. By contrast, neither RafCAAX nor gag-akt when expressed in parental cells in isolation produced factorindependent cells. On the other hand, H7 cells expressing both RafCAAX and gagakt (H7gag-akt/RafCAAX) were transformed. Such transformation in H7gagakt/RafCAAX was accomplished in the absence of active versions of Shc or cbl, and there was no evidence of Stat activity and only modest amounts of bcl-xL, a Stat5 transcriptional target protein, all of which characterized the cells transformed by BCR-ABL. However, H7gag-akt/RafCAAX cells and H7BCR-ABL cells cultured in the absence of IL-3 shared strikingly increased p65 nuclear factor kB (NFkB) activity. Treatment of cells with a specific NFkB inhibitor, parthenolide, led to loss of NFkB activity and down-regulation of antiapoptotic c-IAP2. In cells with only gag-akt/ RafCAAX, this was sufficient to allow polyADP ribosyltransferase (PARP)–degradative apoptosis, but in cells with p210BCR-ABL, apoptosis was blocked, possibly by a Stat5/bcl-xL–dependent mechanism. Therefore, one hematopoietic antiapoptotic program, among others, available to certain tyrosine kinase oncogenes involves a cooperative response between raf/erk and akt, unambiguous components of p21ras and PI-3kinase pathways, to induce p65 NFkB and c-IAP2. (Blood. 2001;98:2508-2517)