ABSTRACTS – ORAL PRESENTATIONS - AMCA, spol. s r.o.

to employ flow cytometry for estimation of the number of particular DNA sequences on
chromosomes of interest. The numerous and important contributions to the analysis
of complex plant genomes document how fruitful and happy the marriage between
flow cytometry and plant genomics has been. Considering the recent methodological
advances, one may expect that this relationship will flourish even more than before.
18. THE PLANAR CELL POLARITY PATHWAY DRIVES PATHOGENESIS OF CHRONIC
LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKEMIA BY THE REGULATION OF B-LYMPHOCYTE MIGRATION
Markéta Kaucká 1 , Šárka Pavlová 2,3 , Pavlína Janovská 1 , Karla Plevová 2,3 , Lucie Poppová 2,3 ,
Hana Mádrová 2,3 , Jan Verner 2 , Jiřina Procházková 1 , Šárka Pospíšilová 2,3 , Alois Kozubík 1,4 ,
Gunnar Schulte 1,5 and Vítězslav Bryja 1,4
1
Institute of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2,
611 37, Brno, Czech Republic; bryja@sci.muni.cz
2
Center of Molecular Biology and Gene Therapy, Department of Internal Medicine–
Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital Brno and Medical Faculty MU, Brno,
Czech Republic
3
CEITEC - Central European Institute of Technology, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech
Republic
4
Department of Cytokinetics, Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech
Republic, Brno, Czech Republic
5
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) is the most common form of leukemia in
Western countries found in adults. CLL is characterized by monoclonal expansion and
accumulation of functionally incompetent B lymphocytes. Most patients are diagnosed
with no symptoms using a routine blood test that shows a high white blood cell count.
CD5 + lymphocytes show impaired migration and often invade into such organs as
lymph nodes, spleen, liver and bone marrow which results in disrupted organ function,
hematopoiesis (anemia) and weaken immunity. The prognosis of patients with CLL varies
widely at diagnosis and the pathology of CLL remains still unclear.
In our study, we show that core components of Wnt/planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway
are upregulated in B lymphocytes from patients suffering from CLL. PCP is highly
conserved signaling machinery, which acts as key regulator of cell polarity and migration
throughout evolution. Several players of the PCP pathway, such as Prickle1, Celsr1,
Vangl2, casein kinase 1 (Ck1ε), Dvl2, Dvl3, Fzd3, Fzd7 and Wnt5a, are increased in CLL
cells both on mRNA and protein levels. The expression levels of PCP genes and proteins
often correlate with the aggressiveness of the disease and some of the PCP genes have
prognostic value.
Further, our analysis of the migratory capacity of CLL model cell line Mec1 and human
primary CLL lymphocytes in the chemokine gradient (Transwell Assay) suggests that
PCP pathway is required for migration of leukemic cells. We were able to decrease
CLL lymphocyte migration using (i) Ror1 blocking antibody, (ii) CK1 inhibitor D4476
Analytical Cytometry VII 47