Human Fetal Hemoglobin Expression is Regulated by the Developmental Stage-Specific Repressor BCL11A
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
OTHER RELATED OMICS DATASETS IN: E-GEOD-13284PRJNA109605PRJNA114015PRJNA114017
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus Homo sapiens
PROVIDER: GSE13285 | GEO | 2008/12/05
SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA109605
REPOSITORIES: GEO
Similar Datasets
Project description: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 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 β-hemoglobin disorders including therapeutic genome editing.
| S-EPMC4705561 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
2020-04-17 | GSE143963 | GEO
Project description:Reactivation of fetal hemoglobin remains a critical goal in the treatment of patients with sickle cell disease and β-thalassemia. Previously, we discovered that silencing of the fetal γ-globin gene requires the erythroid-specific eIF2α kinase heme-regulated inhibitor (HRI), suggesting that HRI might present a pharmacologic target for raising fetal hemoglobin levels. Here, via a CRISPR-Cas9-guided loss-of-function screen in human erythroblasts, we identify transcription factor ATF4, a known HRI-regulated protein, as a novel γ-globin regulator. ATF4 directly stimulates transcription of BCL11A, a repressor of γ-globin transcription, by binding to its enhancer and fostering enhancer-promoter contacts. Notably, HRI-deficient mice display normal Bcl11a levels, suggesting species-selective regulation, which we explain here by demonstrating that the analogous ATF4 motif at the murine Bcl11a enhancer is largely dispensable. Our studies uncover a linear signaling pathway from HRI to ATF4 to BCL11A to γ-globin and illustrate potential limits of murine models of globin gene regulation.
| S-EPMC7290097 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Hemoglobinopathies, including sickle cell disease and _-thalassemia, are global public health concerns. Induction of fetal-type hemoglobin (HbF) is a promising means to treat these disorders; however, precisely how HbF expression is silenced in adult erythroid cells is not fully understood. Here, we show that the LRF/ZBTB7A transcription factor is a potent repressor of HbF production. LRF inactivation derepresses embryonic/fetal _-globin expression in mouse and human adult erythroid cells. We employed genome-wide analysis of the transcriptome, chromatin accessibility and LRF occupancy sites, and demonstrate that LRF occupies the _-globin loci and maintains nucleosome density necessary for _-globin silencing. LRF confers its repressive activity through a unique NuRD repressor complex independent of BCL11A. Strikingly, human erythroid lines lacking both LRF and BCL11A exhibited almost a complete switch in expression from adult- to fetal-type globin, suggesting that these two factors cumulatively represent the near entirety of _-globin repressive activity in adult erythroid cells. RNA-seq, LRF ChIP-seq and ATAC-seq assays were used to investigtae LRF binding, effect of LRF depletion on transcription and chromatin landscape in mouse and human cells.
2016-01-15 | E-GEOD-74977 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Reactivation of fetal hemoglobin (HbF) in adults ameliorates the severity of the common ?-globin disorders. The transcription factor BCL11A is a critical modulator of hemoglobin switching and HbF silencing, yet the molecular mechanism through which BCL11A coordinates the developmental switch is incompletely understood. Particularly, the identities of BCL11A cooperating protein complexes and their roles in HbF expression and erythroid development remain largely unknown. Here we determine the interacting partner proteins of BCL11A in erythroid cells by a proteomic screen. BCL11A is found within multiprotein complexes consisting of erythroid transcription factors, transcriptional corepressors, and chromatin-modifying enzymes. We show that the lysine-specific demethylase 1 and repressor element-1 silencing transcription factor corepressor 1 (LSD1/CoREST) histone demethylase complex interacts with BCL11A and is required for full developmental silencing of mouse embryonic ?-like globin genes and human ?-globin genes in adult erythroid cells in vivo. In addition, LSD1 is essential for normal erythroid development. Furthermore, the DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) is identified as a BCL11A-associated protein in the proteomic screen. DNMT1 is required to maintain HbF silencing in primary human adult erythroid cells. DNMT1 haploinsufficiency combined with BCL11A deficiency further enhances ?-globin expression in adult animals. Our findings provide important insights into the mechanistic roles of BCL11A in HbF silencing and clues for therapeutic targeting of BCL11A in ?-hemoglobinopathies.
| S-EPMC3631619 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The fetal-to-adult switch in hemoglobin production is a model of developmental gene control with relevance to the treatment of hemoglobinopathies. The expression of transcription factor BCL11A, which represses fetal β-type globin (HBG) genes in adult erythroid cells, is predominantly controlled at the transcriptional level but the underlying mechanism is unclear. We identify HIC2 as a repressor of BCL11A transcription. HIC2 and BCL11A are reciprocally expressed during development. Forced expression of HIC2 in adult erythroid cells inhibits BCL11A transcription and induces HBG expression. HIC2 binds to erythroid BCL11A enhancers to reduce chromatin accessibility and binding of transcription factor GATA1, diminishing enhancer activity and enhancer-promoter contacts. DNA-binding and crystallography studies reveal direct steric hindrance as one mechanism by which HIC2 inhibits GATA1 binding at a critical BCL11A enhancer. Conversely, loss of HIC2 in fetal erythroblasts increases enhancer accessibility, GATA1 binding and BCL11A transcription. HIC2 emerges as an evolutionarily conserved regulator of hemoglobin switching via developmental control of BCL11A.
| S-EPMC9940634 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Hemoglobinopathies, including sickle cell disease and _-thalassemia, are global public health concerns. Induction of fetal-type hemoglobin (HbF) is a promising means to treat these disorders; however, precisely how HbF expression is silenced in adult erythroid cells is not fully understood. Here, we show that the LRF/ZBTB7A transcription factor is a potent repressor of HbF production. LRF inactivation derepresses embryonic/fetal _-globin expression in mouse and human adult erythroid cells. We employed genome-wide analysis of the transcriptome, chromatin accessibility and LRF occupancy sites, and demonstrate that LRF occupies the _-globin loci and maintains nucleosome density necessary for _-globin silencing. LRF confers its repressive activity through a unique NuRD repressor complex independent of BCL11A. Strikingly, human erythroid lines lacking both LRF and BCL11A exhibited almost a complete switch in expression from adult- to fetal-type globin, suggesting that these two factors cumulatively represent the near entirety of _-globin repressive activity in adult erythroid cells.
2016-01-15 | GSE74977 | GEO
Project description:A transition from fetal hemoglobin (HbF) to adult hemoglobin (HbA) normally occurs within a few months after birth. Increased production of HbF after this period of infancy ameliorates clinical symptoms of the major disorders of adult ?-hemoglobin: ?-thalassemia and sickle cell disease. The transcription factor BCL11A silences HbF and has been an attractive therapeutic target for increasing HbF levels; however, it is not clear to what extent BCL11A inhibits HbF production or mediates other developmental functions in humans. Here, we identified and characterized 3 patients with rare microdeletions of 2p15-p16.1 who presented with an autism spectrum disorder and developmental delay. Moreover, these patients all exhibited substantial persistence of HbF but otherwise retained apparently normal hematologic and immunologic function. Of the genes within 2p15-p16.1, only BCL11A was commonly deleted in all of the patients. Evaluation of gene expression data sets from developing and adult human brains revealed that BCL11A expression patterns are similar to other genes associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. Additionally, common SNPs within the second intron of BCL11A are strongly associated with schizophrenia. Together, the study of these rare patients and orthogonal genetic data demonstrates that BCL11A plays a central role in silencing HbF in humans and implicates BCL11A as an important factor for neurodevelopment.
| S-EPMC4497765 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundFetal hemoglobin (HbF) levels in sickle cell anemia patients vary. We genotyped polymorphisms in the erythroid-specific enhancer of BCL11A to see if they might account for the very high HbF associated with the Arab-Indian (AI) haplotype and Benin haplotype of sickle cell anemia.Methods and resultsSix BCL112A enhancer SNPs and their haplotypes were studied in Saudi Arabs from the Eastern Province and Indian patients with AI haplotype (HbF ~20%), African Americans (HbF ~7%), and Saudi Arabs from the Southwestern Province (HbF ~12%). Four SNPs (rs1427407, rs6706648, rs6738440, and rs7606173) and their haplotypes were consistently associated with HbF levels. The distributions of haplotypes differ in the 3 cohorts but not their genetic effects: the haplotype TCAG was associated with the lowest HbF level and the haplotype GTAC was associated with the highest HbF level and differences in HbF levels between carriers of these haplotypes in all cohorts were approximately 6%.ConclusionsCommon HbF BCL11A enhancer haplotypes in patients with African origin and AI sickle cell anemia have similar effects on HbF but they do not explain their differences in HbF.
| S-EPMC4341902 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Genes encoding human β-type globin undergo a developmental switch from embryonic to fetal to adult-type expression. Mutations in the adult form cause inherited hemoglobinopathies or globin disorders, including sickle cell disease and thalassemia. Some experimental results have suggested that these diseases could be treated by induction of fetal-type hemoglobin (HbF). However, the mechanisms that repress HbF in adults remain unclear. We found that the LRF/ZBTB7A transcription factor occupies fetal γ-globin genes and maintains the nucleosome density necessary for γ-globin gene silencing in adults, and that LRF confers its repressive activity through a NuRD repressor complex independent of the fetal globin repressor BCL11A. Our study may provide additional opportunities for therapeutic targeting in the treatment of hemoglobinopathies.
| S-EPMC4778394 | biostudies-literature