Contribution of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes to myeloid leukemia

Mutation of all Runx (AML1/core) sites in the enhancer of T-lymphomagenic SL3-3 murine leukemia virus unmasks a significant potential for myeloid leukemia induction and favors enhancer evolution toward induction of other disease patterns

SL3-3 murine leukemia virus is a potent inducer of T-lymphomas in mice. Using inbred NMRI mice, it was previously reported that a mutant of SL3-3 with all enhancer Runx (AML1/core) sites disrupted by 3-bp mutations (SL3-3dm) induces predominantly non-T-cell tumors with severely extended latency (S. Ethelberg, J. Lovmand, J. Schmidt, A. Luz, and F. S. Pedersen, J. Virol. 71:7273-7280, 1997). By use of three-color flow cytometry and molecular and histopathological analyses, we have now performed a detailed phenotypic characterization of SL3-3- and SL3-3dm-induced tumors in this mouse strain. All wild-type induced tumors had clonal T-cell receptor beta rearrangements, and the vast majority were CD3(+) CD4(+) CD8(-) T-lymphomas. Such a consistent phenotypic pattern is unusual for murine leukemia virus-induced T-lymphomas. The mutant virus induced malignancies of four distinct hematopoietic lineages: myeloid, T lymphoid, B lymphoid, and erythroid. The most common disease was myeloid leukemia with maturation. Thus, mutation of all Runx motifs in the enhancer of SL3-3 severely impedes viral T-lymphomagenicity and thereby discloses a considerable and formerly unappreciated potential of this virus for myeloid leukemia induction. Proviral enhancers with complex structural alterations (deletions, insertions, and/or duplications) were found in most SL3-3dm-induced T-lymphoid tumors and immature myeloid leukemias but not in any cases of myeloid leukemia with maturation, mature B-lymphoma, or erythroleukemia. Altogether, our results indicate that the SL3-3dm enhancer in itself promotes induction of myeloid leukemia with maturation but that structural changes may arise in vivo and redirect viral disease specificity to induction of T-lymphoid or immature myeloid leukemias, which typically develop with moderately shorter latencies.

Involvement of nucleophosmin/B23 in TPA-induced megakaryocytic differentiation of K562 cells

Human myelogenous leukaemia K562 cells were induced to undergo megakaryocytic differentiation by treatment with phorbol ester 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) (20 nM, 24–72 h). The steady-state level of nucleophosmin/B23 mRNA decreased during the TPA-induced differentiation. There was also decrease in the level of cellular nucleophosmin/B23 protein and appearance of its degraded product (25 kDa) during the TPA-induced differentiation. Furthermore, K562/B23 (wild type), K562/D1 (Δ280–294) and K562/D2 (Δ263–294) cells were less, while K562/D3 (Δ244–294) cells were more responsive to TPA-induced differentiation as compared to K562/vector or parental K562 cells. Activation of the ERK/MAPK was observed in parental K562 cells upon TPA treatment (5 nM, 5–30 min). As compared to K562/vector cells, less activation of ERK/MAPK was observed in K562/D2 cells, while ERK/MAPK was highly activated in K562/D3 cells upon TPA treatment. Our results indicate that nucleophosmin/B23 plays an important role in TPA-induced differentiation of K562 cells and the amino acids 244–294 at C-terminal of nucleophosmin/B23 could be an important site for regulation of cellular response to differentiation.

A new retroelement constituted by a natural alternatively spliced RNA of murine replication-competent retroviruses

Replication of simple retroviruses depends on the recruitment of a single large primary transcript toward splicing, transport/packaging and translation regulations. In this respect, we studied the novel SD' 4.4 kb RNA of murine leukemia retroviruses (MLV) which results from alternative splicing of the primary transcript. We showed that SD' RNA was required for optimal replication since expression of a pre-spliced SD' RNA trans-complemented the impaired infectivity of a SD'-defective mutant. We monitored the fate of this novel transcript throughout early and late events of the viral life cycle. SD' RNA was specifically incorporated into virions demonstrating that the unspliced RNA was not the unique viral RNA present in virions. Furthermore, SD' RNA was reverse transcribed and its DNA copy integrated into the host genome, thus constituting a new splice donor-associated retroelement (SDARE) in infected cells. Finally, we showed that SD' mRNA encoded a 50 kDa polyprotein, and to a lower extent an additional 60 kDa polyprotein, which harbored Gag and integrase domains.

Gris1, a new common integration site in Graffi murine leukemia virus-induced leukemias: overexpression of a truncated cyclin D2 due to alternative splicing

The Graffi murine leukemia virus is a nondefective ecotropic retrovirus that was originally reported to induce myeloid leukemia in some strains of mice (A. Graffi, Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 68:540-558, 1957). Using provirus-flanking sequences as DNA probes, we identified a new common retroviral integration site called Gris1 (for Graffi integration site 1). Viral integrations in Gris1 were detected in 13% of the tumors analyzed. The Gris1 locus was mapped to the distal region of mouse chromosome 6, 85 kb upstream of the cyclin D2 gene. Such viral integration in Gris1 causes overexpression of the normal 6.5-kb major transcript of cyclin D2 but also induces the expression of a new, alternatively spliced 1.1-kb transcript from the cyclin D2 gene that encodes a truncated cyclin D2 of 17 kDa. The expression of this 1.1-kb transcript is specific to tumors in which Gris1 is rearranged but is also detected at low levels in normal tissue.

The v-ErbA oncoprotein quenches the activity of an erythroid-specific enhancer

v-ErbA is a mutated variant of thyroid hormone receptor (TRalpha/NR1A1) borne by the Avian Erythroblastosis virus causing erythroleukemia. TRalpha is known to activate transcription of specific genes in the presence of its cognate ligand, T3 hormone, while in its absence it represses it. v-ErbA is unable to bind ligand, and hence is thought to contribute to leukemogenesis by actively repressing erythroid-specific genes such as the carbonic anhydrase II gene (CA II). In the prevailing model, v-ErbA occludes liganded TR from binding to its cognate elements and constitutively interacts with the corepressors NCoR/SMRT. We previously identified a v-ErbA responsive element (VRE) within a DNase I hypersensitive region (HS2) located in the second intron of the CA II gene. We now show that HS2 fulfils all the requirements for a genuine enhancer that functions independent of its orientation and position with a profound erythroid-specific activity in normal erythroid progenitors (T2ECs) and in leukemic erythroid cell lines. We find that the HS2 enhancer activity is governed by two adjacent GATA-factor binding sites. v-ErbA as well as unliganded TR prevent HS2 activity by nullifying the positive function of factors bound to GATA-sites. However, v-ErbA, in contrast to TR, does not convey active repression to silence the transcriptional activity intrinsic to a heterologous tk promoter. We propose that depending on the sequence and context of the binding site, v-ErbA contributes to leukemogenesis by occluding liganded TR as well as unliganded TR thereby preventing activation or repression, respectively.

Introduction of a cis-acting mutation in the capsid-coding gene of moloney murine leukemia virus extends its leukemogenic properties

Inoculation of newborn mice with the retrovirus Moloney murine leukemia virus (MuLV) results in the exclusive development of T lymphomas with gross thymic enlargement. The T-cell leukemogenic property of Moloney MuLV has been mapped to the U3 enhancer region of the viral promoter. However, we now describe a mutant Moloney MuLV which can induce the rapid development of a uniquely broad panel of leukemic cell types. This mutant Moloney MuLV with synonymous differences (MSD1) was obtained by introduction of nucleotide substitutions at positions 1598, 1599, and 1601 in the capsid gene which maintained the wild-type (WT) coding potential. Leukemias were observed in all MSD1-inoculated animals after a latency period that was shorter than or similar to that of WT Moloney MuLV. Importantly, though, only 56% of MSD1-induced leukemias demonstrated the characteristic thymoma phenotype observed in all WT Moloney MuLV leukemias. The remainder of MSD1-inoculated animals presented either with bona fide clonal erythroid or myelomonocytic leukemias or, alternatively, with other severe erythroid and unidentified disorders. Amplification and sequencing of U3 and capsid-coding regions showed that the inoculated parental MSD1 sequences were conserved in the leukemic spleens. This is the first report of a replication-competent MuLV lacking oncogenes which can rapidly lead to the development of such a broad range of leukemic cell types. Moreover, the ability of MSD1 to transform erythroid and myelomonocytic lineages is not due to changes in the U3 viral enhancer region but rather is the result of a cis-acting effect of the capsid-coding gag sequence.

Retroviral insertions in Evi12, a novel common virus integration site upstream of Tra1/Grp94, frequently coincide with insertions in the gene encoding the peripheral cannabinoid receptor Cnr2

The common virus integration site (VIS) Evi11 was recently identified within the gene encoding the hematopoietic G-protein-coupled peripheral cannabinoid receptor Cnr2 (also referred to as Cb2). Here we show that Cnr2 is a frequent target (12%) for insertion of Cas-Br-M murine leukemia virus (MuLV) in primary tumors in NIH/Swiss mice. Multiple provirus insertions in Evi11 were cloned and shown to be located within the 3' untranslated region of the candidate proto-oncogene Cnr2. These results suggest that proviral insertion in the Cnr2 gene is an important step in Cas-Br-M MuLV-induced leukemogenesis in NIH/Swiss mice. To isolate Evi11/Cnr2 collaborating proto-oncogenes, we searched for novel common VISs in the Cas-Br-M MuLV-induced primary tumors and identified a novel frequent common VIS, Evi12 (14%). Interestingly, 54% of the Evi11/Cnr2-rearranged primary tumors contained insertions in Evi12 as well, which suggests cooperative action of the target genes in these two common VISs in leukemogenesis. By interspecific backcross analysis it was shown that Evi12 resides on mouse chromosome 10 in a region that shares homology with human chromosomes 12q and 19p. Sequence analysis demonstrated that Evi12 is located upstream of the gene encoding the molecular chaperone Tra1/Grp94, which was previously mapped to mouse chromosome 10 and human chromosome 12q22-24. Thus, Tra1/Grp94 is a candidate target gene for retroviral activation or inactivation in Evi12. However, Northern and Western blot analyses did not provide evidence that proviral insertion had altered the expression of Tra1/Grp94. Additional studies are required to determine whether Tra1/Grp94 or another candidate proto-oncogene in Evi12 is involved in leukemogenesis.