Overexpression of UGT2B17 in MEC1 and JVM2 leukemia cell lines

UGT2B17 is a recently identified molecular marker for poor prognosis in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL), which is the most prevalent adult leukemia subtype in the western world. The goal of this study was to determine the effects of UGT2B17 expression in leukemia cells and to find molecular pathways associated with high UGT2B17 expression. We characterized the effects of UGT2B17 in two leukemia cell lines (MEC1 and JVM2) overexpressing a functional UGT2B17 enzyme. A first line of inquiries based on RNA sequencing analysis revealed a series of genes differentially expressed in UGT2B17 overexpressing cells compared to controls, with several genes related to arachidonic acid metabolism and signaling. The MEC-1 and JVM-2 cell lines were transfected with an expression vector containing the coding sequence of human UGT2B17. MEC1 control cells have a stable repression of UGT2B17 by shRNA knock-down, while JVM2 controls are transfected with an empty pcDNA6 vector. Each condition was analyzed in triplicate.