Cytogenetic characterisation and proteomic profiling of the Imatinib-resistant cell line KCL22-R

Approximately 30% of chronic myeloid leukemia patients show initially no response to Imatinib, a potent inhibitor of BCR-ABL. This intrinsic resistance may be due to BCR-ABL-independent cell growth. Here we analysed the cytogenetic anomalies and the proteomic profiling in KCL22-S and KCL22-R, two Imatinib-sensitive and -resistant derivative cell lines of KCL22. A tetrasomy 8 and a non-reciprocal translocation +der(6)t(6;13)(p11.1;q12) were found only in KCL22-R as new evolved anomalies. Chromosome der(6)t(6;13) showed four variants differing in the chromatin content of 13q14-13qter including the retinoblastoma gene. Due to these sub-clones, approximately 65-79% of the Imatinib-treated KCL22-R cells showed a disomy and 21-35% a monosomy for 13q14. Imatinib removal reduced the main clone to approximately 20% in the benefit of the monosomic sub-clones. This was accompanied by an increased apoptosis rate and was revertible by Imatinib re-treatment. This effect may be connected with genes located in 13q14-qter. Proteomic profiling of the cell lines performed with ProteinChip technology (SELDI) revealed several differentially expressed proteins (n=45). In summary, we demonstrate here the complex changes on the cytogenetic and proteomic level which could be caused by Imatinib and the resistance resulting from it.