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A retroviral mutagenesis screen reveals strong cooperation between Bcl11a overexpression and loss of the Nf1 tumor suppressor gene.

ABSTRACT: NF1 inactivation occurs in specific human cancers, including juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia, an aggressive myeloproliferative disorder of childhood. However, evidence suggests that Nf1 loss alone does not cause leukemia. We therefore hypothesized that inactivation of the Nf1 tumor suppressor gene requires cooperating mutations to cause acute leukemia. To search for candidate genes that cooperate with Nf1 deficiency in leukemogenesis, we performed a forward genetic screen using retroviral insertion mutagenesis in Nf1 mutant mice. We identified 43 common proviral insertion sites that contain candidate genes involved in leukemogenesis. One of these genes, Bcl11a, confers a growth advantage in cultured Nf1 mutant hematopoietic cells and causes early onset of leukemia of either myeloid or lymphoid lineage in mice when expressed in Nf1-deficient bone marrow. Bcl11a-expressing cells display compromised p21(Cip1) induction, suggesting that Bcl11a's oncogenic effects are mediated, in part, through suppression of p21(Cip1). Importantly, Bcl11a is expressed in human chronic myelomonocytic leukemia and juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia samples. A subset of AML patients, who had poor outcomes, of 16 clusters, displayed high levels of BCL11A in leukemic cells. These findings suggest that deregulated Bcl11a cooperates with Nf1 in leukemogenesis, and a therapeutic strategy targeting the BCL11A pathway may prove beneficial in the treatment of leukemia.

SUBMITTER: Yin B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2635073 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A retroviral mutagenesis screen reveals strong cooperation between Bcl11a overexpression and loss of the Nf1 tumor suppressor gene.

Yin Bin B Delwel Ruud R Valk Peter J PJ Wallace Margaret R MR Loh Mignon L ML Shannon Kevin M KM Largaespada David A DA

Blood 20081023 5

NF1 inactivation occurs in specific human cancers, including juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia, an aggressive myeloproliferative disorder of childhood. However, evidence suggests that Nf1 loss alone does not cause leukemia. We therefore hypothesized that inactivation of the Nf1 tumor suppressor gene requires cooperating mutations to cause acute leukemia. To search for candidate genes that cooperate with Nf1 deficiency in leukemogenesis, we performed a forward genetic screen using retroviral inser ...[more]

PMID: 18948576

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Project description:The CCAAT enhancer binding protein alpha (C/EBPalpha) transcription factor plays a key role in the regulation of growth and differentiation of the granulocytic lineage in the hematopoietic system and CEBPA (encoding C/EBPalpha) is often mutated or deregulated in AML patients. Consistently, mice lacking C/EBPalpha have no mature neutrophils and die within a few hours. However, homozygous knockin mice in which wild type Cebpa has been replaced with a mutant allele (BRM2), which abolish the growth-repressing ability of C/EBPalpha, are viable, but at 8 weeks of age they display myeloid dysplasia with absence of neutrophil granulocytes. Strikingly, in older CebpaBRM2/BRM2 knockin mice the myeloid dysplastic phenotype progress into other myeloid malignancies such as myeloid proliferative syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia-like malignancy. This strongly suggests that secondary mutations in other loci must occur when developing leukemia in the CebpaBRM2/BRM2. In order to identify genes that cooperate with Cebpa mutations in the development of leukemia in CebpaBRM2/BRM2 mice a so-called retroviral insertion mutagenesis screen was performed. Inbred newborn CebpaBRM2/BRM2 and wildtype mice were injected with SRS19-6 retrovirus, which incorporated into the genome and resulted in activation of oncogenes and leukemic progression. When leukemia was evident the mice were euthanized and analyzed. As expected the CebpaBRM2/BRM2 mice had a shorter latency than wildtype mice (186 vs. 276 days). The mice had enlarged spleen, thymus, and/or lymph nodes and were thoroughly investigated by histology, flow cytometry and southern in order to determine the leukemic phenotypes. Most of the CebpaBRM2/BRM2 mice developed an AML-like phenotype, whereas T cell leukemias were most prominent in wildtype mice, showing that mutating Cebpa specifically directs leukemic progression towards a myeloid direction. Genomic instability was analyzed by CGH. Finally, the retroviral insertion loci were identified through a splinkerette-aided PCR strategy. This led to the identification of several novel putative and previously unexplored oncogenes, which might collaborate with mutated Cebpa in the development of AML. Keywords: Disease state analysis In order to identify genes that cooperate with Cebpa mutations in the development of leukemia in CebpaBRM2/BRM2 mice a so-called retroviral insertion mutagenesis screen was performed. Inbred newborn CebpaBRM2/BRM2 and wildtype mice were injected with SRS19-6 retrovirus, which incorporated into the genome and resulted in activation of oncogenes and leukemic progression. When leukemia was evident the mice were euthanized and analyzed. GDNA from tumour tissues were analyzed by CGH using tail gDNA as reference.

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A retroviral mutagenesis screen reveals strong cooperation between Bcl11a overexpression and loss of the Nf1 tumor suppressor gene.

Publications

A retroviral mutagenesis screen reveals strong cooperation between Bcl11a overexpression and loss of the Nf1 tumor suppressor gene.

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