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Hemoglobin switching's surprise: the versatile transcription factor BCL11A is a master repressor of fetal hemoglobin.

ABSTRACT: The major disorders of ?-globin, sickle cell disease and ?-thalassemia, may be ameliorated by expression of the fetal gene paralog ?-globin. Uncertainty regarding the mechanisms repressing fetal hemoglobin in the adult stage has served as a puzzle of developmental gene regulation as well as a barrier to rational therapeutic design. Recent genome-wide association studies implicated the zinc-finger transcriptional repressor BCL11A in fetal hemoglobin regulation. Extensive genetic analyses have validated BCL11A as a potent repressor of fetal hemoglobin level. Studies of BCL11A exemplify how contextual gene regulation may often be the substrate for trait-associated common genetic variation. These discoveries have suggested novel rational approaches for the ?-hemoglobin disorders including therapeutic genome editing.

SUBMITTER: Bauer DE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4705561 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Hemoglobin switching's surprise: the versatile transcription factor BCL11A is a master repressor of fetal hemoglobin.

Bauer Daniel E DE Orkin Stuart H SH

Current opinion in genetics & development 20150801

The major disorders of β-globin, sickle cell disease and β-thalassemia, may be ameliorated by expression of the fetal gene paralog γ-globin. Uncertainty regarding the mechanisms repressing fetal hemoglobin in the adult stage has served as a puzzle of developmental gene regulation as well as a barrier to rational therapeutic design. Recent genome-wide association studies implicated the zinc-finger transcriptional repressor BCL11A in fetal hemoglobin regulation. Extensive genetic analyses have val ...[more]

PMID: 26375765

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