Biogenesis of Mitochondria in Multipotent Mesenchymal Stromal Cells in Patients with Acute Leukemia

In patients with acute leukemia, not only normal hematopoiesis, but also bone marrow stromal microenvironment is damaged. Multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) are essential for the formation and function of the stromal microenvironment. Analysis of changes in MSC is important for the development of new approaches to leukemia therapy. The metabolism of mitochondria in MSC, relative content of mitochondrial DNA, and expression levels of genes encoding PGC-1 alpha and Nrf2 proteins, important regulators of biogenesis, were studied using real-time PCR. Relative content of mitochondrial DNA does not change in MSC of acute leukemia patients at the onset of disease or in remission. Relative expression level of the gene encoding PGC-1 alpha protein in MSC does not change significantly. However, relative expression level of the gene encoding Nrf2, an important antioxidant activity regulator, insignificantly decreases in patients at the onset of acute leukemia, and this decrease becomes significant upon reaching remission.