Interferon consensus sequence binding protein (ICSBP; IRF-8) antagonizes BCR/ABL and down-regulates bcl-2.

BCR/ABL is the causative genetic aberration in chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Mice lacking expression of the interferon (IFN) consensus sequence binding protein (ICSBP), an IFN gamma-inducible transcription factor of the interferon regulatory factor (IRF) family, develop a disease similar to human CML. Mounting evidence suggests a role for ICSBP in the pathogenesis of CML. However, the underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. By stable and conditional expression of ICSBP in wild-type and BCR/ABL-transformed 32D cells (32D/wt and 32D/BA), we found that ICSBP inhibited BCR/ABL-mediated leukemogenesis in vivo. Moreover, ICSBP also overrode BCR/ABL-mediated morphology changes, chemotherapy, and imatinib resistance, as well as BCR/ABL-induced repression of differentiation. Some of these ICSBP effects may be explained in part by an ICSBP-mediated repression of bcl-2, a major antiapoptotic target of BCR/ABL, on transcriptional and protein level. Using reporter gene assays and electrophoretic mobility shift assays we identified that the bcl-2 promoter activity was inhibited by ICSBP by way of a fragment containing 2 characteristic ICSBP-responsive elements. An inverse correlation between ICSBP and bcl-2 expression was confirmed in vivo. Collectively, our findings suggest that ICSBP antagonizes BCR/ABL by down-regulation of bcl-2 and implicates a central role for ICSBP in the pathogenesis of CML, as well as a therapeutic target to overcome drug resistance in bcl-2-dependent tumors.