The recurrent SET-NUP214 fusion as a new HOXA activation mechanism in pediatric T-ALL
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ABSTRACT: T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is mostly characterized by specific chromosomal abnormalities, some occurring in a mutually exclusive manner possibly delineating specific T-ALL subgroups. One subgroup, including MLL-rearranged, CALM-AF10 or inv(7)(p15q34) cases, is characterized by elevated expression of HOXA genes. Using a gene expression based clustering analysis of 67 T-ALL cases with recurrent molecular genetic abnormalities and 25 samples lacking apparent aberrations, we identified 5 new cases with elevated HOXA levels. Using array-CGH, a cryptic and recurrent deletion, del(9)(q34.11q34.13), was exclusively identified in 3 of these 5 cases. This deletion results in a conserved SET-NUP214 fusion product, that was also identified in the T-ALL cell line LOUCY. SET-NUP214 binds in the promoter regions of specific HOXA genes, where it may interact with CRM1 and DOT1L leading to the transcriptional activation of HOXA genes. Targeted inhibition of SET-NUP214 by siRNA abolished expression of HOXA genes, inhibited proliferation and induced differentiation in LOUCY but not in other T-ALL lines. We conclude that SET-NUP214 may contribute to the pathogenesis of T-ALL by enforcing T-cell differentiation arrest. We combined gene expression profiling and array-CGH analysis to detect a new and recurrent molecular cytogenetic abnormality in T-ALL patients that co-clustered with 5 well-defined HOXA-activated T-ALL samples. We describe the cloning of a recurrent SET-NUP214 fusion product in these samples, and identified a potential mechanism by which SET-NUP214 may activate the HOXA gene cluster as potential leukemogenic event in T-ALL. Keywords: cluster analysis
ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens
PROVIDER: GSE10609 | GEO | 2008/02/23
SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA107781
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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