Blockage of Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling by Nanoparticles Reduces Survival and Proliferation of CLL Cells In Vitro-Preliminary Study

The Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway is shown to play a significant role in the control of the survival, proliferation, and differentiation of hematopoietic cells. Studies have confirmed that aberrant activation of canonical Wnt signaling occurs in various forms of leukemia, and is crucial for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) pathogenesis. The aim of the study is to evaluate the influence of maltotriose (M3) modified fourth generation poly(propylene imine) dendrimers (PPI-G4) on Wnt/beta-catenin pathway gene expression in CLL (MEC-1) cells and to compare these findings with those obtained with fludarabine (FA). Microarray data analysis reveals seven of 19 Wnt/beta-catenin pathway genes whose expression changes significantly during dendrimer and FA treatment: WNT10A, WNT6, and CDH1 among others. PPI-G4-M3 is already known to influence MEC-1 cell apoptosis and proliferation. The obtained results suggest that the reduction in cell survival under the influence of glycodendrimers and FA may be due to loss of Wnt signaling.