The anti-leukemic activity of sodium dichloroacetate in p53(mutated/null) cells is mediated by a p53-independent ILF3/p21 pathway

B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) patients harboring p53 mutations are invariably refractory to therapies based on purine analogues and have limited treatment options and poor survival. Having recently demonstrated that the mitochondria-targeting small molecule sodium dichloroacetate (DCA) exhibits anti-leukemic activity in p53(wild-type) B-CLL cells, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of DCA in p53(mutated) B-CLL cells and in p53(mutated/null) leukemic cell lines. DCA exhibited comparable cytotoxicity in p53(wild-type) and p53(mutated) B-CLL patient cell cultures, as well as in p53(mutated) B leukemic cell lines (MAVER, MEC-1, MEC-2). At the molecular level, DCA promoted the transcriptional induction of p21 in all leukemic cell types investigated, including p53(null) HL-60. By using a proteomic approach, we demonstrated that DCA up-regulated the ILF3 transcription factor, which is a known regulator of p21 expression. The role of the ILF3/p21 axis in mediating the DCA anti-leukemic activity was underscored by knocking-down experiments. Indeed, transfection with ILF3 and p21 siRNAs significantly decreased both the DCA-induced p21 expression and the DCA-mediated cytotoxicity. Taken together, our results emphasize that DCA is a small molecule that merits further evaluation as a therapeutic agent also for p53(mutated) leukemic cells, by acting through the induction of a p53-independent pathway.