Tianjin Medical Journal ›› 2026, Vol. 54 ›› Issue (1): 1-7.doi: 10.11958/20252219

• Cell and Molecular Biology •     Next Articles

Based on the combined transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis of the regulatory role of GLUL in drug resistance in chronic myeloid leukemia

ZHUANG Ruiling(), YANG Jie, CHEN Yanxin, ZHANG Yun()   

  1. Department of Hematology, 900th Hospital of PLA Joint Logistic Support Force, Fuzhou 350000, China
  • Received:2025-06-06 Revised:2025-09-21 Published:2026-01-15 Online:2026-01-19
  • Contact: E-mail:306005288@qq.com

Abstract:

Objective To investigate the differences of gene expression and metabolomics between K562 cells and their resistant counterpart, K562-G01 cells, and analyze the potential role of glutamate-ammonia ligase (GLUL) in regulating the drug resistance of K562-G01 cells. Methods K562 and resistant K562-G01 cells were cultured in vitro. Differentially expressed genes, metabolites and related pathways in the resistant cells were identified through transcriptomics and metabolomics. The association between transcriptomic and metabolomic pathways was analyzed to identify common signaling pathways. Differential gene expression was detected by qPCR and Western blot assay. Flow cytometry was employed to evaluate the effect of GLUL gene interference on cell apoptosis. Results Transcriptomic analysis showed that 2 423 genes were upregulated, and 3 321 genes were downregulated in K562-G01 cells. Metabolomic analysis revealed that 570 metabolites were upregulated and 779 were downregulated in K562-G01 cells. Transcriptomic and metabolomic association analysis indicated that alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism pathway were involved in the development of drug resistance in K562 cells. qPCR and Western blot results demonstrated that GLUL expression was upregulated in K562-G01 cells (P<0.05). Further investigation showed that interfering with GLUL expression promoted apoptosis in both K562 and K562-G01 cells and enhanced the drug sensitivity to imatinib (P<0.05). Conclusion Activation of alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism pathways may contribute to the drug resistance of K562-G01 cells. Interfering with GLUL expression significantly promotes apoptosis in drug resistant cells and enhances the sensitivity to chemotherapy drugs.

Key words: leukemia, myelogenous, chronic, BCR-ABL positive, drug resistance, neoplasm, computational biology, glutamate-ammonia ligase

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