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Sung PJ, Selvam M, Riedel SS, Xie HM, Bryant K, Manning B, Wertheim GB, Kulej K, Pham L, Bowman RL, Peresie J, Nemeth MJ, Levine RL, Garcia BA, Meyer SE, Sidoli S, Bernt KM, Carroll M. FLT3 tyrosine kinase inhibition modulates PRC2 and promotes differentiation in acute myeloid leukemia. Leukemia 2024; 38:291-301. [PMID: 38182819 DOI: 10.1038/s41375-023-02131-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2023] [Revised: 12/13/2023] [Accepted: 12/19/2023] [Indexed: 01/07/2024]
Abstract
Internal tandem duplication mutations in fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3-ITD) are recurrent in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and increase the risk of relapse. Clinical responses to FLT3 inhibitors (FLT3i) include myeloid differentiation of the FLT3-ITD clone in nearly half of patients through an unknown mechanism. We identified enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2), a component of polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2), as a mediator of this effect using a proteomic-based screen. FLT3i downregulated EZH2 protein expression and PRC2 activity on H3K27me3. FLT3-ITD and loss-of-function mutations in EZH2 are mutually exclusive in human AML. We demonstrated that FLT3i increase myeloid maturation with reduced stem/progenitor cell populations in murine Flt3-ITD AML. Combining EZH1/2 inhibitors with FLT3i increased terminal maturation of leukemic cells and reduced leukemic burden. Our data suggest that reduced EZH2 activity following FLT3 inhibition promotes myeloid differentiation of FLT3-ITD leukemic cells, providing a mechanistic explanation for the clinical observations. These results demonstrate that in addition to its known cell survival and proliferation signaling, FLT3-ITD has a second, previously undefined function to maintain a myeloid stem/progenitor cell state through modulation of PRC2 activity. Our findings support exploring EZH1/2 inhibitors as therapy for FLT3-ITD AML.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pamela J Sung
- Department of Medicine - Leukemia, Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY, USA.
- Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
| | - Murugan Selvam
- Department of Medicine - Leukemia, Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY, USA
| | - Simone S Riedel
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Department of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine and Abramson Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Hongbo M Xie
- Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Katie Bryant
- Department of Medicine - Leukemia, Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY, USA
| | - Bryan Manning
- Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Gerald B Wertheim
- Department of Pathology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Katarzyna Kulej
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Lucie Pham
- Department of Medicine - Leukemia, Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY, USA
| | - Robert L Bowman
- Department of Cancer Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Jennifer Peresie
- Department of Immunology, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY, USA
| | - Michael J Nemeth
- Department of Immunology, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY, USA
| | - Ross L Levine
- Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Benjamin A Garcia
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Sara E Meyer
- Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Cancer Biology, Thomas Jefferson University, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Simone Sidoli
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Biochemistry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Kathrin M Bernt
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Department of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine and Abramson Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Martin Carroll
- Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
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Frank D, Patnana PK, Vorwerk J, Mao L, Gopal LM, Jung N, Hennig T, Ruhnke L, Frenz JM, Kuppusamy M, Autry R, Wei L, Sun K, Mohammed Ahmed HM, Künstner A, Busch H, Müller H, Hutter S, Hoermann G, Liu L, Xie X, Al-Matary Y, Nimmagadda SC, Cano FC, Heuser M, Thol F, Göhring G, Steinemann D, Thomale J, Leitner T, Fischer A, Rad R, Röllig C, Altmann H, Kunadt D, Berdel WE, Hüve J, Neumann F, Klingauf J, Calderon V, Opalka B, Dührsen U, Rosenbauer F, Dugas M, Varghese J, Reinhardt HC, von Bubnoff N, Möröy T, Lenz G, Batcha AMN, Giorgi M, Selvam M, Wang E, McWeeney SK, Tyner JW, Stölzel F, Mann M, Jayavelu AK, Khandanpour C. Germ line variant GFI1-36N affects DNA repair and sensitizes AML cells to DNA damage and repair therapy. Blood 2023; 142:2175-2191. [PMID: 37756525 PMCID: PMC10733838 DOI: 10.1182/blood.2022015752] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2022] [Revised: 07/06/2023] [Accepted: 07/24/2023] [Indexed: 09/29/2023] Open
Abstract
ABSTRACT Growth factor independence 1 (GFI1) is a DNA-binding transcription factor and a key regulator of hematopoiesis. GFI1-36N is a germ line variant, causing a change of serine (S) to asparagine (N) at position 36. We previously reported that the GFI1-36N allele has a prevalence of 10% to 15% among patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and 5% to 7% among healthy Caucasians and promotes the development of this disease. Using a multiomics approach, we show here that GFI1-36N expression is associated with increased frequencies of chromosomal aberrations, mutational burden, and mutational signatures in both murine and human AML and impedes homologous recombination (HR)-directed DNA repair in leukemic cells. GFI1-36N exhibits impaired binding to N-Myc downstream-regulated gene 1 (Ndrg1) regulatory elements, causing decreased NDRG1 levels, which leads to a reduction of O6-methylguanine-DNA-methyltransferase (MGMT) expression levels, as illustrated by both transcriptome and proteome analyses. Targeting MGMT via temozolomide, a DNA alkylating drug, and HR via olaparib, a poly-ADP ribose polymerase 1 inhibitor, caused synthetic lethality in human and murine AML samples expressing GFI1-36N, whereas the effects were insignificant in nonmalignant GFI1-36S or GFI1-36N cells. In addition, mice that received transplantation with GFI1-36N leukemic cells treated with a combination of temozolomide and olaparib had significantly longer AML-free survival than mice that received transplantation with GFI1-36S leukemic cells. This suggests that reduced MGMT expression leaves GFI1-36N leukemic cells particularly vulnerable to DNA damage initiating chemotherapeutics. Our data provide critical insights into novel options to treat patients with AML carrying the GFI1-36N variant.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daria Frank
- Department of Medicine A, Hematology, Oncology and Pneumology, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany
- Department of Hematology and Stem Cell Transplantation, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Pradeep Kumar Patnana
- Department of Medicine A, Hematology, Oncology and Pneumology, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany
- Department of Hematology and Stem Cell Transplantation, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital of Schleswig-Holstein, University Cancer Center Schleswig-Holstein, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Jan Vorwerk
- Department of Medicine A, Hematology, Oncology and Pneumology, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Lianghao Mao
- Proteomics and Cancer Cell Signaling Group, Clinical Cooperation Unit Pediatric Leukemia, German Cancer Research Center and Department of Pediatric Oncology, Hematology and Immunology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Lavanya Mokada Gopal
- Proteomics and Cancer Cell Signaling Group, Clinical Cooperation Unit Pediatric Leukemia, German Cancer Research Center and Department of Pediatric Oncology, Hematology and Immunology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Noelle Jung
- Proteomics and Cancer Cell Signaling Group, Clinical Cooperation Unit Pediatric Leukemia, German Cancer Research Center and Department of Pediatric Oncology, Hematology and Immunology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Thorben Hennig
- Proteomics and Cancer Cell Signaling Group, Clinical Cooperation Unit Pediatric Leukemia, German Cancer Research Center and Department of Pediatric Oncology, Hematology and Immunology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Leo Ruhnke
- Department of Internal Medicine I, University Hospital Dresden, Technical University Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Joris Maximillian Frenz
- Proteomics and Cancer Cell Signaling Group, Clinical Cooperation Unit Pediatric Leukemia, German Cancer Research Center and Department of Pediatric Oncology, Hematology and Immunology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Maithreyan Kuppusamy
- Proteomics and Cancer Cell Signaling Group, Clinical Cooperation Unit Pediatric Leukemia, German Cancer Research Center and Department of Pediatric Oncology, Hematology and Immunology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Robert Autry
- Hopp Children’s Cancer Center, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Lanying Wei
- Department of Medicine A, Hematology, Oncology and Pneumology, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany
- Institute of Medical Informatics, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Kaiyan Sun
- Department of Medicine A, Hematology, Oncology and Pneumology, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Helal Mohammed Mohammed Ahmed
- Department of Medicine A, Hematology, Oncology and Pneumology, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital of Schleswig-Holstein, University Cancer Center Schleswig-Holstein, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Axel Künstner
- Medical Systems Biology Group, Lübeck Institute of Experimental Dermatology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
- Institute for Cardiogenetics, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Hauke Busch
- Medical Systems Biology Group, Lübeck Institute of Experimental Dermatology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
- Institute for Cardiogenetics, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | | | | | | | - Longlong Liu
- Department of Medicine A, Hematology, Oncology and Pneumology, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany
- Department of Hematology, First Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Xiaoqing Xie
- Department of Medicine A, Hematology, Oncology and Pneumology, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany
- Department of Hematology-Oncology, Chongqing University Cancer Hospital, Chongqing, China
| | - Yahya Al-Matary
- Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Subbaiah Chary Nimmagadda
- Department of Medicine A, Hematology, Oncology and Pneumology, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital of Schleswig-Holstein, University Cancer Center Schleswig-Holstein, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Fiorella Charles Cano
- Department of Hematology, Hemostasis, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
| | - Michael Heuser
- Department of Hematology, Hemostasis, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
| | - Felicitas Thol
- Department of Hematology, Hemostasis, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
| | - Gudrun Göhring
- Department of Human Genetics, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
| | - Doris Steinemann
- Department of Human Genetics, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
| | - Jürgen Thomale
- Institute of Cell Biology, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Theo Leitner
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital of Schleswig-Holstein, University Cancer Center Schleswig-Holstein, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Anja Fischer
- Institute of Molecular Oncology and Functional Genomics, School of Medicine, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
- Center for Translational Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Roland Rad
- Institute of Molecular Oncology and Functional Genomics, School of Medicine, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
- Center for Translational Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
- Department of Medicine II, Klinikum Rechts der Isar, School of Medicine, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | | | | | | | - Wolfgang E. Berdel
- Department of Medicine A, Hematology, Oncology and Pneumology, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Jana Hüve
- Fluorescence Microscopy Facility Münster, Institute of Medical Physics and Biophysics, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Felix Neumann
- Fluorescence Microscopy Facility Münster, Institute of Medical Physics and Biophysics, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
- Refined Laser Systems GmbH, Münster, Germany
| | - Jürgen Klingauf
- Fluorescence Microscopy Facility Münster, Institute of Medical Physics and Biophysics, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
- Institute of Medical Physics and Biophysics, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Virginie Calderon
- Bioinformatic Core Facility, Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Bertram Opalka
- Department of Hematology and Stem Cell Transplantation, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Ulrich Dührsen
- Department of Hematology and Stem Cell Transplantation, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Frank Rosenbauer
- Institute of Molecular Tumor Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Martin Dugas
- Institute of Medical Informatics, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Julian Varghese
- Institute of Medical Informatics, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Hans Christian Reinhardt
- Department of Hematology and Stem Cell Transplantation, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Nikolas von Bubnoff
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital of Schleswig-Holstein, University Cancer Center Schleswig-Holstein, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Tarik Möröy
- Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Division of Experimental Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Département de Microbiologie, Infectiologie et Immunologie, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Georg Lenz
- Department of Medicine A, Hematology, Oncology and Pneumology, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Aarif M. N. Batcha
- Institute of Medical Data Processing, Biometrics and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, Munich, Germany
- Data Integration for Future Medicine, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Marianna Giorgi
- Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, NY
| | - Murugan Selvam
- Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, NY
| | - Eunice Wang
- Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, NY
| | - Shannon K. McWeeney
- Division of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Department of Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR
- Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR
- Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR
| | - Jeffrey W. Tyner
- Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR
- Department of Cell, Developmental and Cancer Biology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR
| | - Friedrich Stölzel
- Department of Internal Medicine I, University Hospital Dresden, Technical University Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- Department of Medicine II, Division for Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Immunotherapy, University Cancer Center Schleswig-Holstein, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein Kiel, Christian Albrecht University Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Matthias Mann
- Department of Proteomics and Signal Transduction, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Munich, Germany
| | - Ashok Kumar Jayavelu
- Proteomics and Cancer Cell Signaling Group, Clinical Cooperation Unit Pediatric Leukemia, German Cancer Research Center and Department of Pediatric Oncology, Hematology and Immunology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
- Hopp Children’s Cancer Center, Heidelberg, Germany
- Department of Proteomics and Signal Transduction, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Munich, Germany
- Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory and Medical Faculty, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Cyrus Khandanpour
- Department of Medicine A, Hematology, Oncology and Pneumology, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany
- Department of Hematology and Stem Cell Transplantation, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital of Schleswig-Holstein, University Cancer Center Schleswig-Holstein, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
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