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Barone C, Orsenigo R, Cazzola A, D'Errico E, Patelli A, Quattrini G, Vergani B, Bombelli S, De Marco S, D'Orlando C, Bianchi C, Leone BE, Meneveri R, Biondi A, Cazzaniga G, Rabbitts TH, Brunelli S, Azzoni E. Hematopoietic Stem Cell (HSC)-Independent Progenitors Are Susceptible to Mll-Af9-Induced Leukemic Transformation. Cancers (Basel) 2023; 15:3624. [PMID: 37509285 PMCID: PMC10377085 DOI: 10.3390/cancers15143624] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2023] [Revised: 07/07/2023] [Accepted: 07/10/2023] [Indexed: 07/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Infant acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous disease, genetically distinct from its adult counterpart. Chromosomal translocations involving the KMT2A gene (MLL) are especially common in affected infants of less than 1 year of age, and are associated with a dismal prognosis. While these rearrangements are likely to arise in utero, the cell of origin has not been conclusively identified. This knowledge could lead to a better understanding of the biology of the disease and support the identification of new therapeutic vulnerabilities. Over the last few years, important progress in understanding the dynamics of fetal hematopoiesis has been made. Several reports have highlighted how hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) provide little contribution to fetal hematopoiesis, which is instead largely sustained by HSC-independent progenitors. Here, we used conditional Cre-Lox transgenic mouse models to engineer the Mll-Af9 translocation in defined subsets of embryonic hematopoietic progenitors. We show that embryonic hematopoiesis is generally permissive for Mll-Af9-induced leukemic transformation. Surprisingly, the selective introduction of Mll-Af9 in HSC-independent progenitors generated a transplantable myeloid leukemia, whereas it did not when introduced in embryonic HSC-derived cells. Ex vivo engineering of the Mll-Af9 rearrangement in HSC-independent progenitors using a CRISPR/Cas9-based approach resulted in the activation of an aberrant myeloid-biased self-renewal program. Overall, our results demonstrate that HSC-independent hematopoietic progenitors represent a permissive environment for Mll-Af9-induced leukemic transformation, and can likely act as cells of origin of infant AML.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cristiana Barone
- School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy
| | - Roberto Orsenigo
- School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy
| | - Anna Cazzola
- School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy
| | - Elisabetta D'Errico
- School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy
| | - Arianna Patelli
- School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy
| | - Giulia Quattrini
- School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy
| | - Barbara Vergani
- School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy
| | - Silvia Bombelli
- School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy
| | - Sofia De Marco
- School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy
| | - Cristina D'Orlando
- School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy
| | - Cristina Bianchi
- School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy
| | - Biagio Eugenio Leone
- School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy
| | - Raffaella Meneveri
- School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy
| | - Andrea Biondi
- School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy
- Pediatrics, Fondazione IRCCS San Gerardo dei Tintori, 20900 Monza, Italy
| | - Giovanni Cazzaniga
- School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy
- Centro Tettamanti, IRCCS San Gerardo dei Tintori, 20900 Monza, Italy
| | - Terence Howard Rabbitts
- Division of Cancer Therapeutics, Institute of Cancer Research, 15 Cotswold Road, Sutton, London SM2 5NG, UK
| | - Silvia Brunelli
- School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy
| | - Emanuele Azzoni
- School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy
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