The effect of bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cell exosomes on acute myeloid leukemia’s biological functions: a focus on the potential role of LncRNAs

Abstract

Acute myeloid leukemia represents a group of malignant blood disorders that originate from clonal over-proliferation and the differentiation failure of hematopoietic precursors, resulting in the accumulation of blasts in the bone marrow. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have been shown to exert diverse effects on tumor cells through direct and indirect interaction. Exosomes, as one of the means of indirect intercellular communication, are released from different types of cells, including MSCs, and their various contents, such as lncRNAs, enable them to exert significant impacts on target cells. Our study aims to investigate the effects of BM-MSC exosomes on the cellular and molecular characterization of HL-60 AML cells, particularly detecting the alterations in the expression of lncRNAs involved in AML leukemogenesis, cell growth, drug resistance, and poor prognosis. BM-MSCs were cultured with serum-free culture media to isolate exosomes from their supernatants. The validation of exosomes was performed in three stages: morphological analysis using TEM, size evaluation using DLS, and CD marker identification using flow cytometry. Subsequently, the HL-60 AML cells were treated with isolated BM-MSC exosomes to determine the impact of their contents on leukemic cells. Cell metabolic activity was evaluated by the MTT assay, while cell cycle progression, apoptosis, ROS levels, and proliferation were assessed by flow cytometry. Furthermore, RT-qPCR was conducted to determine the expression levels of lncRNAs and apoptosis-, ROS-, and cell cycle-related genes. MTT assay and flow cytometry analysis revealed that BM-MSC exosomes considerably suppressed cell metabolic activity, proliferation, and cell cycle progression. Also, these exosomes could effectively increase apoptosis and ROS levels in HL-60 cells. The expression levels of p53, p21, BAX, and FOXO4 were increased, while the BCL2 and c-Myc levels decreased. MALAT1, HOTAIR, and H19 expression levels were also significantly decreased in treated HL-60 cells compared to their untreated counterparts. BM-MSC exosomes suppress cell cycle progression, proliferation, and metabolic activity while simultaneously elevating the ROS index and apoptosis ratio in HL-60 cells, likely by reducing the expression levels of MALAT1, HOTAIR, and H19. These findings suggest that BM-MSC exosomes might serve as potential supportive therapies for leukemia.