Pathways of Retinoid Synthesis in Mouse Bone Marrow-Derived Macrophages and Hematopoietic Progenitors

Introduction:

Retinoid receptors are nuclear hormone receptors which are dynamically regulated during terminal myeloid maturation. Retinoic acid receptor α (RARA) is the target of at least ten fusion proteins that lead to acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL).  All trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) has been thought to be the principle natural ligand for RARs and it has been used for the treatment of patients with APL. However, the enzymatic pathways that regulate natural retinoids metabolism in hematopoietic cells have not been well defined.

ATRA is synthesized from vitamin A through two sequential steps. Vitamin A is oxidized by an alcohol dehydrogenase to yield retinal, which is then irreversibly oxidized by an aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) to generate retinoic acid (RA). At least 19 different human ALDHs have been identified. Among them, ALDH1A1, ALDH1A2 and ALDH1A3 have been shown to oxidize all trans-retinal to ATRA with high affinity, which can be inhibited by diethylaminobenzaldehyde (DEAB). Whether other ALDHs participate in RA metabolism is unknown. Our study identified two distinct retinoid metabolism pathways that are active in bone marrow (BM) progenitors and in macrophages (Mφ).

Methods:

Gal4-UAS reporter system was used to detect natural RARA ligands in mouse primary hematopoietic cells.  We transduced UAS-GFP mouse BM cells with retrovirus that expresses a fusion protein containing the DNA binding domain of Gal4 (which recognizes the UAS promoter) and the ligand binding domain of RARA. An IRES mCherry cassette was included for normalization purposes. Transduced cells were cultured in vitro, or transplanted into lethally irradiated recipient mice. Cells with intracellular RARA ligands activate GFP expression. GFP and mCherry expression were evaluated by flow cytometry. Real-time PCR and Affymetrix array were used to quantify ALDH expression. We identified RARA ligands by mass spectrometry (MS).

Results:

In vitro, we found that both mouse BM Kit⁺ cells (Kit⁺ progenitors) and BM-derived macrophages (BMMφ) could synthesize active RARA ligands via different pathways, but only when the cell culture media was supplemented with vitamin A. Kit⁺ progenitors utilize DEAB-sensitive ALDH pathways, whereas BMMφ use DEAB-insensitive pathways. By real-time PCR we found Kit⁺ progenitors have high expression of Aldh1a1, Aldh1a2 and Aldh1a3, whereas BMMφ have no detectable expression of these enzymes. We compared gene expression in Kit⁺ progenitors and BMMφ by Affymetrix profiling and found that Aldh3b1 was overexpressed in BMMφ. Ectopic expression of Aldh3b1 in 293T cells resulted activation of the same GFP reporter, which could be abrogated by two different antagonist, Ro41-5253 and BMS493, suggesting that Aldh3b1 generated an RARA specific ligand, which we subsequently identified as ATRA via MS. Reciprocally, we found that siRNA knock down of Aldh3b1 in BMMφ reduced the transactivation of the RARA-dependent GFP reporter.

The X-RARA fusions have been proposed to act via dominant-negative mechanisms, decreasing retinoid-dependent transcription and myeloid maturation. Surprisingly, in vivo, only rare GFP^dim cells were observed in BM cells and no GFP positive cells in peritoneal Mφ of UAS-GFP/Gal4-RARA transplant mice. As positive control, we treated mice with ATRA and observed a dose-dependent GFP increase in both cell types, suggesting that the in vivo reporter can respond to ATRA, but ATRA is not synthesized during adult hematopoiesis, and that dominant-negative inhibition of ATRA-dependent transcription may not be the predominant pathogenic effect of the X-RARA fusion oncoproteins. 

Conclusion:

We have found that at least two distinct enzymatic pathways may be utilized in primary hematopoietic cells to synthesize active RARA ligands from vitamin A. Mouse BM Kit⁺ progenitors predominantly employ a set of DEAB-sensitive enzymes (Aldh1a1, Aldh1a2 and Aldh1a3), whereas Mφ utilize DEAB-insensitive pathways. We identified Aldh3b1 as a likely candidate and shown that it is capable of ATRA synthesis in vitro. Although these enzymes are expressed in primary BM cells, we found that this does not result in active intracellular RARA ligands in monocytes or Mφ in vivo, suggesting that the rate-limiting step in retinoid synthesis in vivo is likely to involve additional enzymes required for intracellular transport of protein-bound, serum-available vitamin A.