Loss of the vitamin D receptor triggers senescence in chronic myeloid leukemia via DDIT4-mediated DNA damage

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a hematopoietic malignancy driven by the fusion gene BCR: ABL1. Drug resistance to tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) due to BCR: ABL1 mutation and residual leukemia stem cells (LSCs) remain major challenges for CML treatment. Here, we revealed the requirement of VDR in the progression of CML, in which VDR was upregulated by BCR: ABL1, accounting for its high expression. Interestingly, VDR knockdown inhibited the CML cell proliferation driven by BCR: ABL1 regardless of its mutations with resistance to TKIs. Mechanistically, VDR transcriptionally regulated DDIT4 expression, and the inhibition of DDIT4 triggered DNA damage-induced senescence via p53 signaling activation in CML cells. Furthermore, VDR deficiency was sufficient to not only ameliorate the disease burden and progression in primary CML mice but also reduce the self-renewal of CML-LSCs. Together, our study demonstrated that targeting VDR is a promising strategy to overcome TKI resistance and eradicate leukemia stem cells in CML.