Dataset Information

Enforced GFI1 expression impedes human and murine leukemic cell growth.

ABSTRACT: The differentiation of haematopoietic cells is regulated by a plethora of so-called transcription factors (TFs). Mutations in genes encoding TFs or graded reduction in their expression levels can induce the development of various malignant diseases such as acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Growth Factor Independence 1 (GFI1) is a transcriptional repressor with key roles in haematopoiesis, including regulating self-renewal of haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) as well as myeloid and lymphoid differentiation. Analysis of AML patients and different AML mouse models with reduced GFI1 gene expression levels revealed a direct link between low GFI1 protein level and accelerated AML development and inferior prognosis. Here, we report that upregulated expression of GFI1 in several widely used leukemic cell lines inhibits their growth and decreases the ability to generate colonies in vitro. Similarly, elevated expression of GFI1 impedes the in vitro expansion of murine pre-leukemic cells. Using a humanized AML model, we demonstrate that upregulation of GFI1 expression leads to myeloid differentiation morphologically and immunophenotypically, increased level of apoptosis and reduction in number of cKit⁺ cells. These results suggest that increasing GFI1 level in leukemic cells with low GFI1 expression level could be a therapeutic approach.

SUBMITTER: Hones JM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5691148 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Enforced GFI1 expression impedes human and murine leukemic cell growth.

Hönes Judith M JM Thivakaran Aniththa A Botezatu Lacramioara L Patnana Pradeep P Castro Symone Vitoriano da Conceição SVDC Al-Matary Yahya S YS Schütte Judith J Fischer Karen B I KBI Vassen Lothar L Görgens André A Dührsen Ulrich U Giebel Bernd B Khandanpour Cyrus C

Scientific reports 20171116 1

The differentiation of haematopoietic cells is regulated by a plethora of so-called transcription factors (TFs). Mutations in genes encoding TFs or graded reduction in their expression levels can induce the development of various malignant diseases such as acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Growth Factor Independence 1 (GFI1) is a transcriptional repressor with key roles in haematopoiesis, including regulating self-renewal of haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) as well as myeloid and lymphoid different ...[more]

PMID: 29147018

Similar Datasets

Project description:GFI1 is a transcriptional repressor protein that plays an essential role in HSCs development, lymphoid and myeloid differentiation and Acute Myeloid Leukaemic (AML) pathogenesis. Low expression levels of GFI1 is associated with a poor prognosis in AML development. In addition, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) variant of GFI1 results in the generation of GFI1 protein with asparagine (N) instead of serine (S) at the 36th amino acid position, known as GFI136N. Expression of the GFI1-36N allele leads as well to poor prognosis and promotes AML development. In this study, we demonstrated with the help of RNAseq transcriptomic analysis that the presence of GFI1-36N is associated with increased frequency of chromosomal aberrations and mutational burden in murine and human AML cells. In particular, GFI1-36N modulates DNA repair pathways, O6-methylguanine-DNA-methyltransferase (MGMT)-mediated repair and homologous recombination repair (HR). Mechanistically, GFI1-36N exhibits impaired binding to Ndrg1 promoter element compared to GFI1-36S (wild type), causing decreased NDRG1 levels, consequently leading to suppression of MGMT expression, imprinted at the transcriptome and proteome, thus leaving the AML cells vulnerable to DNA damaging agents. Furthermore, we showed that a low expression level of GFI1 in leukemic cells is associated with high OXPHOS and enhanced glutamine metabolism. However, we hypothesise that the observed metabolic phenotype is mediated through FOXO1 protein. RNAseq transcriptomic analysis revealed higher Foxo1 mRNA expression levels with lower GFI1 expression, providing the first hint of Foxo1 as a potential target gene of GFI1 protein. The mRNA and protein levels of high Foxo1 with reduced GFI1 expression was confirmed by RT-PCR and western blot, respectively. In addition, CHIPseq and ATACseq analysis further proved that Foxo1 is a potential target gene of GFI1. In summary, we show that GFI1 plays a role during DNA repair and metabolism and thus provides critical insights into a novel therapeutic option for AML patients carrying the GFI1-36N variant or having a low expression level of GFI1.

Dataset Information

Enforced GFI1 expression impedes human and murine leukemic cell growth.

Publications

Enforced GFI1 expression impedes human and murine leukemic cell growth.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets