Objective: To study the effect of RhoB on the proliferation of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) cells. Methods: Wild type RhoB and its lipid modification variants were amplified with PCR; lentiviral vectors were constructed to overexpress RhoB and its variants in CML cells; effect on the growth of CML cell and the alteration of cell cycle were analyzed. Results: Overexpression of RhoB in MEG-01 and CD34+ cells from CML patients reduced their proliferation. The lipid modification deficient variant RhoBC193G could not inhibit the growth of CML cells. Both farnesylated (F) and geranylgeranylated (GG) RhoB (RhoB-F and RhoB-GG) decreased the proliferation ability of CML cells. RhoB, RhoB-F and RhoB-GG transduced CML cells resided more at G2/M phase compared with control or RhoBC193G transducted cells. Conclusion: RhoB required lipid modification to suppress the growth of CML cells, which was correlated with the arrest of cells at G2/M. |