CFL1 is Implicated in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Response during Imatinib Therapy

TL;DR

CFL1 expression changes during imatinib therapy in chronic myeloid leukemia patients and may predict treatment response.

Contribution

The study reveals that lower pre-treatment CFL1 levels correlate with better imatinib response in chronic myeloid leukemia.

Findings

CFL1 expression was lower in CML patients compared to healthy controls.

Lower CFL1 levels before imatinib therapy predicted higher major molecular response rates.

Imatinib increased CFL1 and F-actin levels, suggesting a role in actin remodeling.

Abstract

Cofilin (CFL1) is one critical member of the actin deploy family (ADF). Overexpression of CFL1 is associated with aggressive features and poor prognosis in malignancies. We evaluated the expression of CFL1 in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in the chronic phase (CML-CP), acute myelocytic leukemia (AML) and healthy controls. The role of CFL1 in imatinib therapy was also investigated using cell line. We found that the expression of CFL1 was lower in CML patients than that in healthy controls, and was significantly upregulated after imatinib therapy (p<0.05). CML patients with lower CFL1 achieved higher Major molecular response (MMR) rate after 6 months of imatinib therapy (p<0.05). Cofilin, P-cofilin and F-actin, especially branched F-actin were all upregulated after imatinib therapy. The lower CFL1 expression before treatment may predicts a better response to imatinib. Imatinib affects F-actin remodeling in CML patients by regulating CFL1 expression and activity.

Figures