Project description:Alternative splicing plays a critical role in generating transcriptome diversity, and aberrant splicing is frequently observed in cancer. Mutations in the splicing factor SF3B1 are particularly common in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), with different survival prognoses. We applied long-read sequencing for the investigation of the SF3B1 mutation effect on the transcriptome of MDS and CLL patients, as well as isogenic cell lines. Our results revealed that SF3B1 mutation effect was common across the different diseases and specifically altered the usage of 3’ alternative splice sites within short proximity to the canonical splice sites. Based on computational simulations, the most common K700E mutation led to destabilization of the SF3B1-mRNA binding. Furthermore, we combined the full isoform information with genome-wide SF3B1-RNA binding maps to predict the functional consequences of the aberrant splicing and gain mechanistic insights into the role of mutated SF3B1 in splicing.
Project description:The splicing factor SF3B1 is the most commonly mutated gene in the myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), particularly in patients with refractory anemia with ring sideroblasts (RARS). MDS is a disorder of the hematopoietic stem cell and we thus studied the transcriptome of CD34+ cells from MDS patients with SF3B1 mutations using RNA-sequencing. Genes significantly differentially expressed at the transcript and/or exon level in SF3B1 mutant compared to wildtype cases include genes involved in MDS pathogenesis (ASXL1, CBL), iron homeostasis and mitochondrial metabolism (ALAS2, ABCB7, SLC25A37) and RNA splicing/processing (PRPF8, HNRNPD). Many genes regulated by a DNA damage-induced BRCA1-BCLAF1-SF3B1 protein complex showed differential expression/splicing in SF3B1 mutant cases. Our data indicate that SF3B1 plays a critical role in MDS by affecting the expression and splicing of genes involved in specific cellular processes/pathways, many of which are relevant to the known RARS pathophysiology, suggesting a causal link. RNA-Seq was performed to compare the transcriptome of bone marrow CD34+ cells from eight MDS patients with SF3B1 mutation, four MDS patients with no known splicing mutation and five healthy controls.
Project description:SF3B1 K700E is the most frequent mutation in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), but the mechanisms by which it drives MDS pathogenesis remain unclear. We derived a panel of 18 genetically matched SF3B1 K700E- and SF3B1 WT-induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines from patients with MDS with ring sideroblasts (MDS-RS) harboring isolated SF3B1 K700E mutations and performed RNA and ATAC sequencing in purified CD34+/CD45+ hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) derived from them. We developed a novel computational framework integrating splicing with transcript usage and gene expression analyses and derived a SF3B1 K700E splicing signature consisting of 59 splicing events linked to 34 genes, which associates with the SF3B1 mutational status of primary MDS patient cells. The chromatin landscape of SF3B1 K700E HSPCs showed increased priming toward the megakaryocyte- erythroid lineage. Transcription factor motifs enriched in chromatin regions more accessible in SF3B1 K700E cells included, unexpectedly, motifs of the TEAD family. TEAD expression and transcriptional activity were upregulated in SF3B1-mutant iPSC-HSPCs, in support of a Hippo pathway-independent role of TEAD as a potential novel transcriptional regulator of SF3B1 K700E cells. This study provides a comprehensive characterization of the transcriptional and chromatin landscape of SF3B1 K700E HSPCs and nominates novel mis-spliced genes and transcriptional programs with putative roles in MDS-RS disease biology.
Project description:Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) with mutated SF3B1 gene have many features including a favorable outcome that are distinct from MDS with mutations in other splicing factor genes SRSF2 or U2AF1. Molecular bases of these divergences are poorly understood. Here we show that SF3B1-mutated MDS are characterized by a dramatically reduced R-loop formation predominating in gene bodies, which tightly associates with reduced retention of introns specifically found in SF3B1-mutated, but not in U2AF1- or SRSF2-mutated MDS. Compared to erythroblasts from SRSF2- or U2AF1-mutated patients, SF3B1-mutated erythroblasts exhibited augmented DNA synthesis, accelerated replication forks, and single-stranded DNA exposure upon differentiation, which were recapitulated in murine Sf3b1K700E/+ proerythroblasts. Importantly, R-loop formation was restored by histone deacetylase inhibition using SAHA/vorinostat, which improved Sf3b1K700E/+ erythroblast differentiation. In conclusion, loss of R-loops with associated DNA replication stress is a hallmark of SF3B1- mutated MDS ineffective erythropoiesis, which could be used as a new therapeutic target.
Project description:Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) with mutated SF3B1 gene have many features including a favorable outcome that are distinct from MDS with mutations in other splicing factor genes SRSF2 or U2AF1. Molecular bases of these divergences are poorly understood. Here we show that SF3B1-mutated MDS are characterized by a dramatically reduced R-loop formation predominating in gene bodies, which tightly associates with reduced retention of introns specifically found in SF3B1-mutated, but not in U2AF1- or SRSF2-mutated MDS. Compared to erythroblasts from SRSF2- or U2AF1-mutated patients, SF3B1-mutated erythroblasts exhibited augmented DNA synthesis, accelerated replication forks, and single-stranded DNA exposure upon differentiation, which were recapitulated in murine Sf3b1K700E/+ proerythroblasts. Importantly, R-loop formation was restored by histone deacetylase inhibition using SAHA/vorinostat, which improved Sf3b1K700E/+ erythroblast differentiation. In conclusion, loss of R-loops with associated DNA replication stress is a hallmark of SF3B1- mutated MDS ineffective erythropoiesis, which could be used as a new therapeutic target.
Project description:The splicing factor SF3B1 is the most commonly mutated gene in the myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), particularly in patients with refractory anemia with ring sideroblasts (RARS). MDS is a disorder of the hematopoietic stem cell and we thus studied the transcriptome of CD34+ cells from MDS patients with SF3B1 mutations using RNA-sequencing. Genes significantly differentially expressed at the transcript and/or exon level in SF3B1 mutant compared to wildtype cases include genes involved in MDS pathogenesis (ASXL1, CBL), iron homeostasis and mitochondrial metabolism (ALAS2, ABCB7, SLC25A37) and RNA splicing/processing (PRPF8, HNRNPD). Many genes regulated by a DNA damage-induced BRCA1-BCLAF1-SF3B1 protein complex showed differential expression/splicing in SF3B1 mutant cases. Our data indicate that SF3B1 plays a critical role in MDS by affecting the expression and splicing of genes involved in specific cellular processes/pathways, many of which are relevant to the known RARS pathophysiology, suggesting a causal link.
Project description:Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) with ring sideroblasts are hematopoietic stem celldisorders with erythroid dysplasia and mutations in the SF3B1 splicing factor gene. MDS patientswith SF3B1 mutations often accumulate excessive tissue iron, even in the absence oftransfusions, but the mechanisms that are responsible for their parenchymal iron overload areunknown. Body iron content, tissue distribution, and the supply of iron for erythropoiesis arecontrolled by the hormone hepcidin, which is regulated by erythroblasts through secretion of theerythroid hormone erythroferrone (ERFE). Here, we identified an alternative ERFE transcript inMDS patients with the SF3B1 mutation. Induction of this ERFE transcript in primary SF3B1-mutated bone marrow erythroblasts generated a variant protein that maintained the capacity tosuppress hepcidin transcription. Plasma concentrations of ERFE were higher in MDS patientswith a SF3B1 gene mutation than in patients with SF3B1 wild-type MDS. Thus, hepcidinsuppression by a variant erythroferrone is likely responsible for the increased iron loading inpatients with SF3B1-mutated MDS, suggesting that ERFE could be targeted to prevent ironmediated toxicity. The expression of the variant ERFE transcript that was restricted to SF3B1-mutated erythroblasts decreased in lenalidomide-responsive anemic patients, identifying variantERFE as a specific biomarker of clonal erythropoiesis.
Project description:Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) with mutated SF3B1 gene have many features including a favorable outcome that are distinct from MDS with mutations in other splicing factor genes SRSF2 or U2AF1. Molecular bases of these divergences are poorly understood. Here we show that SF3B1-mutated MDS are characterized by a dramatically reduced R-loop formation predominating in gene bodies, which associates with intron retention reduction specifically found in SF3B1-mutated, but not in U2AF1- or SRSF2-mutated MDS. Compared to erythroblasts from SRSF2- or U2AF1-mutated patients, SF3B1-mutated erythroblasts exhibited augmented DNA synthesis, accelerated replication forks, and single-stranded DNA exposure upon differentiation. Importantly, histone deacetylase inhibition using vorinostat restored Rloop formation,slowed down DNA replication forks and improved SF3B1-mutated erythroblast differentiation. In conclusion, loss of R-loops with associated DNA replication stress is a hallmark of SF3B1-mutated MDS ineffective erythropoiesis, which could be used as a new therapeutic target.
Project description:Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) with mutated SF3B1 gene have many features including a favorable outcome that are distinct from MDS with mutations in other splicing factor genes SRSF2 or U2AF1. Molecular bases of these divergences are poorly understood. Here we show that SF3B1-mutated MDS are characterized by a dramatically reduced R-loop formation predominating in gene bodies, which associates with intron retention reduction specifically found in SF3B1-mutated, but not in U2AF1- or SRSF2-mutated MDS. Compared to erythroblasts from SRSF2- or U2AF1-mutated patients, SF3B1-mutated erythroblasts exhibited augmented DNA synthesis, accelerated replication forks, and single-stranded DNA exposure upon differentiation. Importantly, histone deacetylase inhibition using vorinostat restored Rloop formation,slowed down DNA replication forks and improved SF3B1-mutated erythroblast differentiation. In conclusion, loss of R-loops with associated DNA replication stress is a hallmark of SF3B1-mutated MDS ineffective erythropoiesis, which could be used as a new therapeutic target.