期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：2017
卷号：114
期号：23
页码：E4641-E4647
DOI：10.1073/pnas.1703142114
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：Epithelial growth factor-like 7 (EGFL7) is a protein that is secreted by endothelial cells and plays an important role in angiogenesis. Although EGFL7 is aberrantly overexpressed in solid tumors, its role in leukemia has not been evaluated. Here, we report that levels of both EGFL7 mRNA and EGFL7 protein are increased in blasts of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) compared with normal bone marrow cells. High EGFL7 mRNA expression associates with lower complete remission rates, and shorter event-free and overall survival in older (age ≥60 y) and younger (age <60 y) patients with cytogenetically normal AML. We further show that AML blasts secrete EGFL7 protein and that higher levels of EGFL7 protein are found in the sera from AML patients than in sera from healthy controls. Treatment of patient AML blasts with recombinant EGFL7 in vitro leads to increases in leukemic blast cell growth and levels of phosphorylated AKT. EGFL7 blockade with an anti-EGFL7 antibody reduced the growth potential and viability of AML cells. Our findings demonstrate that increased EGFL7 expression and secretion is an autocrine mechanism supporting growth of leukemic blasts in patients with AML.
