Resistance to inflammation underlies enhanced fitness in clonal hematopoiesis [I]
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ABSTRACT: Clonal hematopoiesis (CH) results from enhanced fitness of a mutant hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC), but how such clones expand is unclear. Here, we developed a technique that combines mosaic mutagenesis with color labeling of HSPCs to study how acquired mutations affect clonal fitness in a native environment. Mutations in CH-associated genes, like asxl1, promoted clonal dominance. Single-cell transcriptional analysis revealed that mutations stimulated expression of proinflammatory genes in mature myeloid cells and anti-inflammatory genes in progenitor cells of the mutant clone. Biallelic loss of one such immunomodulator, nr4a1, abrogated the ability of asxl1-mutant clones to establish clonal dominance. These results support a model where clonal fitness of mutant clones is driven by enhanced resistance to inflammatory signals from their mutant mature cell progeny.
Project description:Clonal hematopoiesis (CH) results from enhanced fitness of a mutant hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC), but how such clones expand is unclear. Here, we developed a technique that combines mosaic mutagenesis with color labeling of HSPCs to study how acquired mutations affect clonal fitness in a native environment. Mutations in CH-associated genes, like asxl1, promoted clonal dominance. Single-cell transcriptional analysis revealed that mutations stimulated expression of proinflammatory genes in mature myeloid cells and anti-inflammatory genes in progenitor cells of the mutant clone. Biallelic loss of one such immunomodulator, nr4a1, abrogated the ability of asxl1-mutant clones to establish clonal dominance. These results support a model where clonal fitness of mutant clones is driven by enhanced resistance to inflammatory signals from their mutant mature cell progeny.
Project description:<p>Hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) mutations can result in clonal hematopoiesis (CH) with heterogeneous clinical outcomes. Here, we investigated how the cell state preceding <em>Tet2</em> mutation impacts the pre-malignant phenotype. Using an inducible system for clonal analysis of myeloid progenitors, we found that the epigenetic features of clones at similar differentiation status were highly heterogeneous and functionally responded differently to <em>Tet2</em> mutation. Cell differentiation stage also influenced <em>Tet2</em> mutation response indicating that the cell of origin's epigenome modulates clone-specific behaviors in CH. Molecular features associated with higher risk outcomes include <em>Sox4</em> that sensitized cells to <em>Tet2</em> inactivation, inducing dedifferentiation, altered metabolism and increasing the <em>in vivo</em> clonal output of mutant cells, as confirmed in primary GMP and HSC models. Our findings validate the hypothesis that epigenetic features can predispose specific clones for dominance, explaining why identical genetic mutations can result in different phenotypes.</p>
Project description:Certain somatic mutations confer a fitness advantage in hematopoietic stem cells, resulting in the clonal expansion of mutant blood cells, known as clonal haematopoiesis (CH). Among the top 3 CH mutations, ASXL1 mutations present the highest risk for developing cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). However, how ASXL1 mutations induce CVDs remains totally elusive. Here we show that haematopoietic cells harbouring C-terminally truncated form of ASXL1 mutant (ASXL1-MT) accelerated development of atherosclerosis in Ldlr–/– mice. Transcriptome analyses of plaque-cells showed inflammatory signatures of monocytes and macrophages expressing ASXL1-MT. Mechanistically, wild-type ASXL1 inhibited innate immune signalling through the inhibition of IRAK1-TAK1 interaction in the cytoplasm, indicating an unexpected non-epigenetic role of ASXL1. In contrast, ASXL1-MT lost this regulatory function, leading to NF-κB activation. Intriguingly, IRAK1/4 inhibition decreased inflammatory monocytes and atherosclerosis driven by ASXL1-MT. The present work connects ASXL1 mutations with inflammation and CVDs, giving a clue to prevent CVDs in ASXL1-CH.
Project description:Certain somatic mutations confer a fitness advantage in hematopoietic stem cells, resulting in the clonal expansion of mutant blood cells, known as clonal haematopoiesis (CH). Among the top 3 CH mutations, ASXL1 mutations present the highest risk for developing cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). However, how ASXL1 mutations induce CVDs remains totally elusive. Here we show that haematopoietic cells harbouring C-terminally truncated form of ASXL1 mutant (ASXL1-MT) accelerated development of atherosclerosis in Ldlr–/– mice. Transcriptome analyses of plaque-cells showed inflammatory signatures of monocytes and macrophages expressing ASXL1-MT. Mechanistically, wild-type ASXL1 inhibited innate immune signalling through the inhibition of IRAK1-TAK1 interaction in the cytoplasm, indicating an unexpected non-epigenetic role of ASXL1. In contrast, ASXL1-MT lost this regulatory function, leading to NF-κB activation. Intriguingly, IRAK1/4 inhibition decreased inflammatory monocytes and atherosclerosis driven by ASXL1-MT. The present work connects ASXL1 mutations with inflammation and CVDs, giving a clue to prevent CVDs in ASXL1-CH.
Project description:Somatic mutations of ASXL1 are frequently detected in age-related clonal hematopoiesis (CH). However, how ASXL1 mutations drive CH remains elusive. Using knockin (KI) mice expressing a C-terminally truncated form of ASXL1-mutant (ASXL1-MT), we examined the influence of ASXL1-MT on physiological aging in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). HSCs expressing ASXL1-MT display competitive disadvantage after transplantation. Nevertheless, in genetic mosaic mouse model, they acquire clonal advantage during aging, recapitulating CH in humans. Mechanistically, ASXL1-MT cooperates with BAP1 to deubiquitinate and activate AKT. Overactive Akt/mTOR signaling induced by ASXL1-MT results in aberrant proliferation and dysfunction of HSCs associated with age-related accumulation of DNA damage. Treatment with an mTOR inhibitor rapamycin ameliorates aberrant expansion of the HSC compartment as well as dysregulated hematopoiesis in aged ASXL1-MT KI mice. Our findings suggest that ASXL1-MT provokes dysfunction of HSCs, whereas it confers clonal advantage on HSCs over time, leading to the development of CH.
Project description:Clonal hematopoiesis (CH) is characterized by expanding blood cell clones carrying somatic mutations in healthy aged individuals and is associated with various age-related diseases and all-cause mortality. While CH mutations affect diverse genes associated with myeloid malignancies, their mechanisms of expansion and disease associations remain poorly understood. We investigate the relationship between clonal fitness and clinical outcomes by integrating data from three longitudinal aging cohorts (n=713). We demonstrate pathway-specific fitness advantage and clonal composition significantly influence clonal dynamics. Further, the timing of mutation acquisition is necessary to determine the extent of clonal expansion reached during the host individual's lifetime. We introduce MAC120, a metric combining mutation context, timing, and variant fitness to predict future clonal growth, outperforming traditional variant allele frequency measurements in predicting clinical outcomes. Our unified analytical framework enables standardized clonal dynamics inference across cohorts, advancing our ability to predict and potentially intervene in CH-related pathologies.
Project description:ASXL1 is one of the three most frequently mutated genes in age-related clonal hematopoiesis (CH), with the others being DNMT3A and TET2. CH can progress to myeloid malignancies including chronic monomyelocytic leukemia (CMML), and is also strongly associated with inflammatory cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality in humans. DNMT3A and TET2 regulate DNA methylation and demethylation pathways respectively, and DNMT3A and TET2 loss-of-function mutations in CH reduce DNA methylation in heterochromatin, allowing de-repression of silenced elements in heterochromatin. In contrast, the mechanisms that connect mutant ASXL1 and CH are not yet fully understood. CH/CMML-associated ASXL1 mutations encode C-terminally truncated proteins that enhance the deubiquitinase activity of the ASXL-BAP1 “PR-DUB” deubiquitinase complex, which removes mono-ubiquitin from H2AK119Ub. Here we show that ASXL1 mutant proteins interact with the EHMT1-EHMT2 methyltransferase complex, which generates H3K9me1 and me2, the latter a repressive modification in constitutive heterochromatin. Compared to cells from age-matched wildtype mice, we found that expanded myeloid cells from old Asxl1tm/+ mice, a heterozygous knock-in mouse model of CH, display genome-wide decreases of H3K9me2, H3K9me3 and H2AK119Ub as well as an associated increase in expression of transposable elements (TEs) and satellite repeats. Increased TE expression was also observed in monocytes from ASXL1-mutant CMML patients compared to monocytes from healthy control individuals. Our data suggest that mutant ASXL1 proteins compromise the integrity of both constitutive and facultative heterochromatin in an age-dependent manner, by reducing the levels of H3K9me2/3 and H2AK119Ub respectively. The resulting increase in TE expression can alter the expression of nearby genes and promote the expression of inflammation-associated and interferon-inducible genes (ISGs).
Project description:ASXL1 is one of the three most frequently mutated genes in age-related clonal hematopoiesis (CH), with the others being DNMT3A and TET2. CH can progress to myeloid malignancies including chronic monomyelocytic leukemia (CMML), and is also strongly associated with inflammatory cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality in humans. DNMT3A and TET2 regulate DNA methylation and demethylation pathways respectively, and DNMT3A and TET2 loss-of-function mutations in CH reduce DNA methylation in heterochromatin, allowing de-repression of silenced elements in heterochromatin. In contrast, the mechanisms that connect mutant ASXL1 and CH are not yet fully understood. CH/CMML-associated ASXL1 mutations encode C-terminally truncated proteins that enhance the deubiquitinase activity of the ASXL-BAP1 “PR-DUB” deubiquitinase complex, which removes mono-ubiquitin from H2AK119Ub. Here we show that ASXL1 mutant proteins interact with the EHMT1-EHMT2 methyltransferase complex, which generates H3K9me1 and me2, the latter a repressive modification in constitutive heterochromatin. Compared to cells from age-matched wildtype mice, we found that expanded myeloid cells from old Asxl1tm/+ mice, a heterozygous knock-in mouse model of CH, display genome-wide decreases of H3K9me2, H3K9me3 and H2AK119Ub as well as an associated increase in expression of transposable elements (TEs) and satellite repeats. Increased TE expression was also observed in monocytes from ASXL1-mutant CMML patients compared to monocytes from healthy control individuals. Our data suggest that mutant ASXL1 proteins compromise the integrity of both constitutive and facultative heterochromatin in an age-dependent manner, by reducing the levels of H3K9me2/3 and H2AK119Ub respectively. The resulting increase in TE expression can alter the expression of nearby genes and promote the expression of inflammation-associated and interferon-inducible genes (ISGs).
Project description:Hematopoietic stem cell mutations can result in clonal hematopoiesis (CHIP) but the clinical outcomes are heterogeneous. The nature of the founder mutation and secondary mutations likely drive emergent neoplastic disease. We investigated how the cell state where the TET2 mutation occurs affects susceptibility to that commonly occurring CH mutation. Here, we provide evidence that risk is written in the epigenome of the cell of origin. By characterizing cell states that underlie myeloid differentiation and linking this information to an inducible system to assess myeloid progenitor clones, we provide evidence that epigenetic markers of the cell where Tet2 mutation occurs stratifies clonal behaviors. Specifically, Sox4 fosters a global cell state of high sensitization towards Tet2 KO. Using GMP and primary HSC models, we show that Sox4 promotes cell dedifferentiation, alters cell metabolism and increases the in vivo clonal output of mutant cells. Our results validate the hypothesis that epigenetic features can predispose specific clones for dominance and explain why an identical mutation can result in different outcomes.
Project description:Hematopoietic stem cell mutations can result in clonal hematopoiesis (CHIP) but the clinical outcomes are heterogeneous. The nature of the founder mutation and secondary mutations likely drive emergent neoplastic disease. We investigated how the cell state where the TET2 mutation occurs affects susceptibility to that commonly occurring CH mutation. Here, we provide evidence that risk is written in the epigenome of the cell of origin. By characterizing cell states that underlie myeloid differentiation and linking this information to an inducible system to assess myeloid progenitor clones, we provide evidence that epigenetic markers of the cell where Tet2 mutation occurs stratifies clonal behaviors. Specifically, Sox4 fosters a global cell state of high sensitization towards Tet2 KO. Using GMP and primary HSC models, we show that Sox4 promotes cell dedifferentiation, alters cell metabolism and increases the in vivo clonal output of mutant cells. Our results validate the hypothesis that epigenetic features can predispose specific clones for dominance and explain why an identical mutation can result in different outcomes.