-
Satomi Tanaka,
Satoru Miyagi,
Goro Sashida,
Tetsuhiro Chiba, Jin Yuan,
Makiko Mochizuki-Kashio,
Yutaka Suzuki,
Sumio Sugano,
Chiaki Nakaseko,
Koutaro Yokote,
Haruhiko Koseki,
Atsushi Iwama
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: EZH2, a catalytic component of the polycomb repressive complex 2, trimethylates histone H3 at lysine 27 (H3K27) to repress the transcription of target genes. Although EZH2 is overexpressed in various cancers, including some hematologic malignancies, the role of EZH2 in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has yet to be examined in vivo. In the present study, we transformed granulocyte macrophage progenitors from Cre-ERT;Ezh2(flox/flox) mice with the MLL-AF9 leukemic fusion gene to analyze the function of Ezh2 in AML. Deletion of Ezh2 in transformed granulocyte macrophage progenitors compromised growth severely in vitro and attenuated the progression of AML significantly in vivo. Ezh2-deficient leukemic cells developed into a chronic myelomonocytic leukemia-like disease with a lower frequency of leukemia-initiating cells compared with the control. Chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing revealed a significant reduction in the levels of trimethylation at H3K27 in Ezh2-deficient leukemic cells, not only at Cdkn2a, a known major target of Ezh2, but also at a cohort of genes relevant to the developmental and differentiation processes. Overexpression of Egr1, one of the derepressed genes in Ezh2-deficient leukemic cells, promoted the differentiation of AML cells profoundly. Our findings suggest that Ezh2 inhibits differentiation programs in leukemic stem cells, thereby augmenting their leukemogenic activity.
Blood 06/2012; 120(5):1107-17. · 9.90 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Polycomb-group (PcG) proteins form the multiprotein polycomb repressive complexes (PRC) 1 and 2, and function as transcriptional repressors through histone modifications. They maintain the proliferative capacity of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells by repressing the transcription of tumor suppressor genes, namely Ink4a and Arf, and thus have been characterized as oncogenes. However, the identification of inactivating mutations in the PcG gene, EZH2, unveiled a tumor suppressor function in myeloid malignancies, including primary myelofibrosis (PMF). Here, we show that loss of another PcG gene, Bmi1, causes pathological hematopoiesis similar to PMF. In a mouse model, loss of Bmi1 in Ink4a-Arf(-/-) hematopoietic cells induced abnormal megakaryocytopoiesis accompanied by marked extramedullary hematopoiesis, which eventually resulted in lethal myelofibrosis. Absence of Bmi1 caused derepression of a cohort of genes, including Hmga2, which is an oncogene overexpressed in PMF. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays revealed that Bmi1 directly represses the transcription of Hmga2. Overexpression of Hmga2 in hematopoietic stem cells induced a myeloproliferative state with enhanced megakaryocytopoiesis in mice, implicating Hmga2 in the development of pathological hematopoiesis in the absence of Bmi1. Our findings provide the first genetic evidence of a tumor suppressor function of Bmi1 and uncover the role of PcG proteins in restricting growth by silencing oncogenes.
Journal of Experimental Medicine 02/2012; 209(3):445-54. · 13.85 Impact Factor
-
Shunsuke Nakamura,
Motohiko Oshima, Jin Yuan,
Atsunori Saraya,
Satoru Miyagi,
Takaaki Konuma,
Satoshi Yamazaki,
Mitsujiro Osawa,
Hiromitsu Nakauchi,
Haruhiko Koseki,
Atsushi Iwama
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: The polycomb-group (PcG) proteins function as general regulators of stem cells. We previously reported that retrovirus-mediated overexpression of Bmi1, a gene encoding a core component of polycomb repressive complex (PRC) 1, maintained self-renewing hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) during long-term culture. However, the effects of overexpression of Bmi1 on HSCs in vivo remained to be precisely addressed.
In this study, we generated a mouse line where Bmi1 can be conditionally overexpressed under the control of the endogenous Rosa26 promoter in a hematopoietic cell-specific fashion (Tie2-Cre;R26Stop(FL)Bmi1). Although overexpression of Bmi1 did not significantly affect steady state hematopoiesis, it promoted expansion of functional HSCs during ex vivo culture and efficiently protected HSCs against loss of self-renewal capacity during serial transplantation. Overexpression of Bmi1 had no effect on DNA damage response triggered by ionizing radiation. In contrast, Tie2-Cre;R26Stop(FL)Bmi1 HSCs under oxidative stress maintained a multipotent state and generally tolerated oxidative stress better than the control. Unexpectedly, overexpression of Bmi1 had no impact on the level of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS).
Our findings demonstrate that overexpression of Bmi1 confers resistance to stresses, particularly oxidative stress, onto HSCs. This thereby enhances their regenerative capacity and suggests that Bmi1 is located downstream of ROS signaling and negatively regulated by it.
PLoS ONE 01/2012; 7(5):e36209. · 4.09 Impact Factor
-
Takaaki Konuma,
Shunsuke Nakamura,
Satoru Miyagi,
Masamitsu Negishi,
Tetsuhiro Chiba,
Hideyuki Oguro, Jin Yuan,
Makiko Mochizuki-Kashio,
Hitoshi Ichikawa,
Hiroyuki Miyoshi,
Miguel Vidal,
Atsushi Iwama
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: The methylation status of histones changes dramatically depending on cellular context and defines cell type-specific gene expression profiles. Histone demethylases have recently been implicated in this process. However, it is unknown how histone demethylases function in the maintenance of self-renewing hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs).
We profiled the expression of histone demethylase genes in mouse hematopoietic cells and listed genes preferentially expressed in HSCs. We analyzed the impact of a selected gene by transducing CD34(-)c-Kit(+)Sca-1(+)lineage marker(-) (CD34(-)KSL) HSCs using retroviral system followed by in vitro methylcellulose colony assays and in vivo competitive repopulation assays.
We found that F-box and leucine-rich repeat protein 10 (Fbxl10, also known as Jhdm1b or Kdm2b), is highly expressed in CD34(-)KSL HSCs. Fbxl10 encodes a demethylase specific to the histone H3 mono/di-methylated at lysine 36 (H3K36me1/me2) and forms complexes with polycomb-group proteins, essential regulators of HSCs. Forced expression of Fbxl10 in HSCs expanded numbers of colony-forming cells with multilineage differentiation potential in culture and prevented exhaustion of the long-term repopulating potential of HSCs following serial transplantation. Fbxl10 tightly repressed the expression of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor genes, including Ink4a, Ink4b, and Ink4c, through direct binding to their promoters and gene bodies and demethylation at H3K36. Increased levels of mono-ubiquitylation of H2A at target loci also suggested the collaboration of Fbxl10 with polycomb-group proteins.
Our findings implicate Fbxl10 in the maintenance of self-renewal capacity of HSCs, thus highlight a role of histone demethylation for the first time in the epigenetic regulation of HSCs.
Experimental hematology 06/2011; 39(6):697-709.e5. · 3.11 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Polycomb group (PcG) proteins are essential regulators of stem cells. PcG and trithorax group proteins mark developmental regulator gene promoters with bivalent domains consisting of overlapping repressive and activating histone modifications to keep them poised for activation in embryonic stem cells. Bmi1, a component of PcG complexes, maintains the self-renewal capacity of adult stem cells, but its role in multipotency remains obscure. Here we show that Bmi1 is critical for multipotency of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and multipotent progenitors (MPPs). B cell lineage developmental regulator genes, Ebf1 and Pax5, appeared to be transcriptionally repressed by bivalent domains before lineage commitment. Loss of Bmi1 resulted in a resolution of bivalent domains at the Ebf1 and Pax5 loci, leading to their premature expression in HSC/MPPs accompanied by accelerated lymphoid specification and a marked reduction in HSC/MPPs. Thus, Bmi1 is required to reinforce bivalent domains at key developmental regulator gene loci to maintain lineage specification poised for activation in adult stem cells.
Cell stem cell 03/2010; 6(3):279-86. · 23.56 Impact Factor
