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Zha J, Zhong M, Pan G, Chen Q, Jiang Y, Lai Q, Tan J, Zhou H, Wu H, Xu B. Stratification and therapeutic potential of ELL in cytogenetic normal acute myeloid leukemia. Gene 2023; 856:147110. [PMID: 36543308 DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2022.147110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2022] [Revised: 11/25/2022] [Accepted: 12/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Optimizing prognostic stratification of patients with cytogenetic normal acute myeloid leukemia (CN-AML), a highly heterogeneous subgroup in AML, appears to be important to improve its treatment and clinical outcome. Here, we report a potential role of ELL, a gene associated with leukemogenesis in AML, in prognostic stratification of CN-AML patients. By analyzing public available databases, we found that ELL was highly expressed in AML patients compared with healthy donors. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that ELL expression markedly correlated with short overall survival (OS) of CN-AML patients. In COX multivariable regression analysis, higher ELL expression was an independent prognostic factor for OS in CN-AML. Knockdown of ELL by shRNAs sensitized KG-1α cells to anti-leukemic agents such as idarubicin (IDA) and chidamide (CS055), supporting its role in therapeutic response and outcome in AML. To understand its function in CN-AML, we further analyzed the ELL-driving gene signature. ELL-related genes were particularly enriched in cell adhesion molecules, cell differentiation, pathways in cancer, sequence-specific DNA binding, and extracellular matrix (ECM)-receptor interaction. Analysis of the PPI network identified 25 hub genes, including the stem cell gene BMP4. While BMP4 expression was significantly associated with ELL in CN-AML, knockdown of ELL markedly down-regulated BMP4 expression, suggesting that ELL might function via regulating BMP4 in AML. Together, these observations suggest a novel mechanism underlying pro-leukemogenic role of ELL via BMP4 up-regulation in AML and its potential value to serve as a predictive biomarker for therapeutic response and outcome of CN-AML patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jie Zha
- Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University and Institute of Hematology, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361003, China; Key Laboratory of Xiamen for Diagnosis and Treatment of Hematological Malignancy, Xiamen 361003, China
| | - Mengya Zhong
- Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University and Institute of Hematology, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361003, China; Key Laboratory of Xiamen for Diagnosis and Treatment of Hematological Malignancy, Xiamen 361003, China
| | - Guangchao Pan
- Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University and Institute of Hematology, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361003, China; Key Laboratory of Xiamen for Diagnosis and Treatment of Hematological Malignancy, Xiamen 361003, China
| | - Qinwei Chen
- Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University and Institute of Hematology, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361003, China; Key Laboratory of Xiamen for Diagnosis and Treatment of Hematological Malignancy, Xiamen 361003, China
| | - Yuelong Jiang
- Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University and Institute of Hematology, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361003, China; Key Laboratory of Xiamen for Diagnosis and Treatment of Hematological Malignancy, Xiamen 361003, China
| | - Qian Lai
- Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University and Institute of Hematology, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361003, China; Key Laboratory of Xiamen for Diagnosis and Treatment of Hematological Malignancy, Xiamen 361003, China
| | - Jinshui Tan
- Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University and Institute of Hematology, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361003, China; Key Laboratory of Xiamen for Diagnosis and Treatment of Hematological Malignancy, Xiamen 361003, China
| | - Hui Zhou
- Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University and Institute of Hematology, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361003, China; Key Laboratory of Xiamen for Diagnosis and Treatment of Hematological Malignancy, Xiamen 361003, China
| | - Hua Wu
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University and Institute of Hematology, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361003, China.
| | - Bing Xu
- Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University and Institute of Hematology, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361003, China; Key Laboratory of Xiamen for Diagnosis and Treatment of Hematological Malignancy, Xiamen 361003, China.
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Abstract
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) was first categorized in 1976 by French, American and British researchers, and divided into eight subgroups (M0 to M7), depending on the cytochemical or histological changes in the leukemic cells. The gene mutations of FLT3-ITD, CEBPA and NPM1 are the most common that cooperate together in the prognosis of AML. The CEBPA gene that is a hematopoietic transcription factor, is located on chromosome 19q13.11, and its prevalence is between 5.0 and 14.0% in AML. The patient was referred to our clinic suffering from menorrhagia, unplanned weight loss in a month and low platelet levels, and was diagnosed with AML on clinical and laboratory examination. Here, we report a patient carrying two novel pathogenic mutations that create a frameshift mutation on the CEBPA gene, c.940_941insCCGTCG TGGAGACGA CGAAGG and c.221_222delAC by Sanger sequencing methodology.
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Sequentially inducible mouse models reveal that Npm1 mutation causes malignant transformation of Dnmt3a-mutant clonal hematopoiesis. Leukemia 2019; 33:1635-1649. [PMID: 30692594 PMCID: PMC6609470 DOI: 10.1038/s41375-018-0368-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2018] [Revised: 11/27/2018] [Accepted: 12/13/2018] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Clonal hematopoiesis (CH) is a common aging-associated condition with increased risk of hematologic malignancy. Knowledge of the mechanisms driving evolution from CH to overt malignancy has been hampered by a lack of in vivo models that orthogonally activate mutant alleles. Here, we develop independently regulatable mutations in DNA methyltransferase 3A (Dnmt3a) and nucleophosmin 1 (Npm1), observed in human CH and AML, respectively. We find Dnmt3a mutation expands hematopoietic stem and multipotent progenitor cells (HSC/MPPs), modeling CH. Induction of mutant Npm1 after development of Dnmt3a-mutant CH causes progression to myeloproliferative disorder (MPD), and more aggressive MPD is observed with longer latency between mutations. MPDs uniformly progress to acute myeloid leukemia (AML) following transplant, accompanied by a decrease in HSC/MPPs and an increase in myeloid-restricted progenitors, the latter of which propagate AML in tertiary recipient mice. At a molecular level, progression of CH to MPD is accompanied by selection for mutations activating Ras/Raf/MAPK signaling. Progression to AML is characterized by additional oncogenic signaling mutations (Ptpn11, Pik3r1, Flt3) and/or mutations in epigenetic regulators (Hdac1, Idh1, Arid1a). Together, our study demonstrates that Npm1 mutation drives evolution of Dnmt3a-mutant CH to AML and rate of disease progression is accelerated with longer latency of CH.
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Frech M, Teichler S, Feld C, Bouchard C, Berberich H, Sorg K, Mernberger M, Bullinger L, Bauer UM, Neubauer A. MYB induces the expression of the oncogenic corepressor SKI in acute myeloid leukemia. Oncotarget 2018; 9:22423-22435. [PMID: 29854289 PMCID: PMC5976475 DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.25051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2017] [Accepted: 03/21/2018] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) arises through clonal expansion of transformed myeloid progenitor cells. The SKI proto-oncogene is highly upregulated in different solid tumors and leukemic cells, but little is known about its transcriptional regulation during leukemogenesis. MYB is an important hematopoietic transcription factor involved in proliferation as well as differentiation and upregulated in most human acute leukemias. Here, we find that MYB protein binds within the regulatory region of the SKI gene in AML cells. Reporter gene assays using MYB binding sites present in the SKI gene locus show MYB-dependent transcriptional activation. SiRNA-mediated depletion of MYB in leukemic cell lines reveals that MYB is crucial for SKI gene expression. Consistently, we observed a positive correlation of MYB and SKI expression in leukemic cell lines and in samples of AML patients. Moreover, MYB and SKI both were downregulated by treatment with histone deacetylase inhibitors. Strikingly, differentiation of AML cells induced by depletion of MYB is attenuated by overexpression of SKI. Our findings identify SKI as a novel MYB target gene, relevant for the MYB-induced differentiation block in leukemic cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miriam Frech
- Department of Internal Medicine and Hematology, Oncology and Immunology, Philipps University Marburg, Marburg 35033, Germany.,University Hospital Giessen and Marburg, Marburg 35033, Germany
| | - Sabine Teichler
- Department of Internal Medicine and Hematology, Oncology and Immunology, Philipps University Marburg, Marburg 35033, Germany.,University Hospital Giessen and Marburg, Marburg 35033, Germany
| | - Christine Feld
- Department of Internal Medicine and Hematology, Oncology and Immunology, Philipps University Marburg, Marburg 35033, Germany.,University Hospital Giessen and Marburg, Marburg 35033, Germany.,Institute of Molecular Biology and Tumor Research (IMT), School of Medicine, Philipps University Marburg, Marburg 35043, Germany
| | - Caroline Bouchard
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Tumor Research (IMT), School of Medicine, Philipps University Marburg, Marburg 35043, Germany
| | - Hannah Berberich
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Tumor Research (IMT), School of Medicine, Philipps University Marburg, Marburg 35043, Germany
| | - Katharina Sorg
- Department of Internal Medicine and Hematology, Oncology and Immunology, Philipps University Marburg, Marburg 35033, Germany.,University Hospital Giessen and Marburg, Marburg 35033, Germany
| | - Marco Mernberger
- Institute of Molecular Oncology, Philipps University Marburg, Marburg 35043, Germany
| | - Lars Bullinger
- Department of Internal Medicine III, University Hospital of Ulm, Ulm 89081, Germany
| | - Uta-Maria Bauer
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Tumor Research (IMT), School of Medicine, Philipps University Marburg, Marburg 35043, Germany
| | - Andreas Neubauer
- Department of Internal Medicine and Hematology, Oncology and Immunology, Philipps University Marburg, Marburg 35033, Germany.,University Hospital Giessen and Marburg, Marburg 35033, Germany
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