Extracellular vesicle role in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia B-cells defined by microarray analysis

Interactions between Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia B-cells (CLL B-cells) and the microenvironment (ME) play a major function in the physiopathology of CLL. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) (composed of exosomes and microparticles) have been shown to play an important role in cell communication. EVs, purified by ultracentrifugation from bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (BM-MSC) culture, were added to CLL B-cells. Microarray study highlighted 805 differentially expressed genes between CLL-B-cells cultured with and without EVs. Of these, CCL3/4, EGR1/2/3, MYC (involved in BCR pathway) were increased while pro-apoptotic genes like HRK were decreased. We showed for the first time the potential of EVs alone to induce gene expression modifications in CLL B-cell, notably in BCR and apoptosis pathways. We concluded that a substantial part of communication between CLL B-cells and BM-ME is mediated through EV. CLL B-cells obtained from 3 patients were treated in vitro with extracellular vesicles from bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (or nothing as a negative control) for 24 hours. Their effects on gene expression were thereafter studied using Affymetrix technology