Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is a myeloproliferative disease characterized by the BCR-ABL oncogene. Despite the high performance of treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI), about 30% of patients develop resistance to the therapy. To improve the outcomes, identification of new targets of treatment is needed. Here, we explored the Casein Kinase 2 (CK2) as a potential target for CML therapy. Previously, we detected increased phosphorylation of HSP90β Serine 226 in patients non-responding to TKIs imatinib and dasatinib. This site is known to be phosphorylated by CK2, which was also linked to CML resistance to imatinib. In the present work, we established six novel imatinib- and dasatinib-resistant CML cell lines, all of which had increased CK2 activation. A CK2 inhibitor, CX-4945, induced cell death of CML cells in both parental and resistant cell lines. In some cases, CK2 inhibition also potentiated the effects of TKI on the cell metabolic activity. No effects of CK2 inhibition were observed in normal mononuclear blood cells from healthy donors and BCR-ABL negative HL60 cell line. Our data indicate that CK2 kinase supports CML cell viability even in cells with different mechanisms of resistance to TKI, and thus represents a potential target for treatment.

• MeSH
• Apoptosis MeSH
• Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl metabolism   MeSH
• Cell Death MeSH
• Drug Resistance, Neoplasm MeSH
• Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive * drug therapy   MeSH
• Dasatinib pharmacology   MeSH
• Imatinib Mesylate pharmacology   MeSH
• Protein Kinase Inhibitors pharmacology   MeSH
• Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors MeSH
• Casein Kinase II * MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl MeSH
• Dasatinib MeSH
• Imatinib Mesylate MeSH
• Protein Kinase Inhibitors MeSH
• Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors MeSH
• Casein Kinase II * MeSH