Chromosomal translocations involving the MALT1 gene are hallmarks of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma. To date, targeting these translocations to mouse B cells has failed to ...reproduce human disease. Here, we induced MALT1 expression in mouse Sca1 ⁺Lin ⁻ hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells, which showed NF-κB activation and early lymphoid priming, being selectively skewed toward B-cell differentiation. These cells accumulated in extranodal tissues and gave rise to clonal tumors recapitulating the principal clinical, biological, and molecular genetic features of MALT lymphoma. Deletion of p53 gene accelerated tumor onset and induced transformation of MALT lymphoma to activated B-cell diffuse large-cell lymphoma (ABC-DLBCL). Treatment of MALT1-induced lymphomas with a specific inhibitor of MALT1 proteolytic activity decreased cell viability, indicating that endogenous Malt1 signaling was required for tumor cell survival. Our study shows that human-like lymphomas can be modeled in mice by targeting MALT1 expression to hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells, demonstrating the oncogenic role of MALT1 in lymphomagenesis. Furthermore, this work establishes a molecular link between MALT lymphoma and ABC-DLBCL, and provides mouse models to test MALT1 inhibitors. Finally, our results suggest that hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells may be involved in the pathogenesis of human mature B-cell lymphomas.
CREBBP is targeted by inactivating mutations in follicular lymphoma (FL) and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Here, we provide evidence from transgenic mouse models that Crebbp deletion results ...in deficits in B-cell development and can cooperate with Bcl2 overexpression to promote B-cell lymphoma. Through transcriptional and epigenetic profiling of these B cells, we found that Crebbp inactivation was associated with broad transcriptional alterations, but no changes in the patterns of histone acetylation at the proximal regulatory regions of these genes. However, B cells with Crebbp inactivation showed high expression of Myc and patterns of altered histone acetylation that were localized to intragenic regions, enriched for Myc DNA binding motifs, and showed Myc binding. Through the analysis of CREBBP mutations from a large cohort of primary human FL and DLBCL, we show a significant difference in the spectrum of CREBBP mutations in these 2 diseases, with higher frequencies of nonsense/frameshift mutations in DLBCL compared with FL. Together, our data therefore provide important links between Crebbp inactivation and Bcl2 dependence and show a role for Crebbp inactivation in the induction of Myc expression. We suggest this may parallel the role of CREBBP frameshift/nonsense mutations in DLBCL that result in loss of the protein, but may contrast the role of missense mutations in the lysine acetyltransferase domain that are more frequently observed in FL and yield an inactive protein.
•Crebbp inactivation perturbs B-cell development, but cooperates with Bcl2 overexpression to promote lymphoma.•Transcriptional and epigenetic signatures of Crebbp loss implicate Myc in disease etiology.
Abstract Cancer is a clonal malignant disease originated in a single cell and characterized by the accumulation of partially differentiated cells that are phenotypically reminiscent of normal stages ...of differentiation. According to current models, therapeutic strategies that block oncogene activity are likely to selectively target tumor cells. However, recent evidences have revealed that cancer stem cells could arise through a tumor stem cell reprogramming mechanism, suggesting that genetic lesions that initiate the cancer process might be dispensable for tumor progression and maintenance. This review addresses the impact of these results toward a better understanding of cancer development and proposes new approaches to treat cancer in the future.
The latest studies of the interactions between oncogenes and its target cell have shown that certain oncogenes may act as passengers to reprogram tissue-specific stem/progenitor cell into a malignant ...cancer stem cell state. In this study, we show that the genetic background influences this tumoral stem cell reprogramming capacity of the oncogenes using as a model the Sca1-BCRABLp210 mice, where the type of tumor they develop, chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), is a function of tumoral stem cell reprogramming. Sca1-BCRABLp210 mice containing FVB genetic components were significantly more resistant to CML. However, pure Sca1-BCRABLp210 FVB mice developed thymomas that were not seen in the Sca1-BCRABLp210 mice into the B6 background. Collectively, our results demonstrate for the first time that tumoral stem cell reprogramming fate is subject to polymorphic genetic control.
The incidence, malignancy and treatment resistance of many types of human B-cell leukaemias (B-ALL) are directly related to patient age. A major obstacle to elucidate the contribution of age to the ...development and evolution of leukaemias is the lack of appropriate mouse models where precise control of the timing of oncogene expression is possible. Here we present proof-of-principle experiments showing how a conditional transgenic mouse model of BCR-ABLp190-driven B-ALL offers the opportunity to test the hypothesis that the age of the leukemic cells-of-origin of B-ALL influences B-ALL malignancy. B-ALLs generated from 12- and 20-month-old progenitors gave rise to a more invasive B-ALL than the one developed from 4-month old precursors. This was evidenced by survival analysis revealing the increased malignancy of B-ALLs generated from 20 or 12-month-old transformed progenitors compared with the 4-month equivalents (median survival of 88 days versus 50.5 and 33 days, respectively). Our study shows that the age of target cells at the time of transformation affects B-ALL malignancy.
is associated with the most common subtype of childhood leukemia. As few
carriers develop precursor B-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia (pB-ALL), the underlying genetic basis for development of ...full-blown leukemia remains to be identified, but the appearance of leukemia cases in time-space clusters keeps infection as a potential causal factor. Here, we present
genetic evidence mechanistically connecting preleukemic
expression in hematopoetic stem cells/precursor cells (HSC/PC) and postnatal infections for human-like pB-ALL. In our model,
conferred a low risk of developing pB-ALL after exposure to common pathogens, corroborating the low incidence observed in humans. Murine preleukemic
pro/preB cells showed high
expression, known for human
pB-ALL. Murine and human
pB-ALL revealed recurrent genomic alterations, with a relevant proportion affecting genes of the lysine demethylase (
) family. KDM5C loss of function resulted in increased levels of H3K4me3, which coprecipitated with RAG2 in a human cell line model, laying the molecular basis for recombination activity. We conclude that alterations of KDM family members represent a disease-driving mechanism and an explanation for RAG off-target cleavage observed in humans. Our results explain the genetic basis for clonal evolution of an
preleukemic clone to pB-ALL after infection exposure and offer the possibility of novel therapeutic approaches.
.
Constipation has been linked to cognitive impairment development in Parkinson's disease (PD).
Our aim was to analyze cognitive changes observed in PD patients and controls from a Spanish cohort with ...regards to the presence or not of constipation.
PD patients and controls recruited from 35 centers of Spain from the COPPADIS cohort from January 2016 to November 2017 were followed-up during 2 years. The change in cognitive status from baseline (V0) to 2-year follow-up was assessed with the PD-CRS (Parkinson's Disease Cognitive Rating Scale). Subjects with a score ≥1 on item 21 of the NMSS (Non-Motor Symptoms Scale) at baseline (V0) were considered as "with constipation". Regression analyses were applied for determining the contribution of constipation in cognitive changes.
At V0, 39.7% (198/499) of PD patients presented constipation compared to 11.4% of controls (14/123) (p < 0.0001). No change was observed in cognitive status (PD-CRS total score) neither in controls without constipation (from 100.24±13.72 to 100.27±13.68; p = 0.971) and with constipation (from 94.71±10.96 to 93.93±13.03; p = 0.615). The PD-CRS total score decreased significantly in PD patients with constipation (from 89.14±15.36 to 85.97±18.09; p < 0.0001; Coehn's effect = -0.35) compared to patients without constipation (from 93.92±15.58 to 93.14±17.52; p = 0.250) (p = 0.018). In PD patients, to suffer from constipation at V0 was associated with a decrease in the PD-CRS total score from V0 to V2 (β= -0.1; 95% CI, -4.36 - -0.27; p = 0.026) and having cognitive impairment at V2 (OR = 1.79; 95% CI, 1.01 - 3.17; p = 0.045).
Constipation is associated with cognitive decline in PD patients but not in controls.
Follicular lymphoma (FL) is genetically characterized by translocations of the BCL2 oncogene that are found in ~90% of patients, and mutations of chromatin modifying genes that are found in up to 96% ...of patients. The latter include inactivating mutations of KMT2D and CREBBP, and activating mutations of EZH2, among others.
However, CREBBP has yet to be investigated using this approach. We recently defined the evolutionary hierarchy of somatic mutations in FL and found that CREBBP mutations were most frequently acquired as early events during disease evolution and were maintained throughout disease progression and transformation. Recent studies, using transgenic mouse models, have shown that inactivation of KMT2D and introduction of the activating EZH2 mutation results in perturbed B-cell development and lymphomagenesis. Here, we extended upon these observations by performing targeted next generation sequencing of an additional cohort of tumors allowing the identification of the spectrum of CREBBP mutations across 200 FLs. This identified CREBBP mutations in 55% of tumors, and found that 31% of these mutations reside within the lysine acetyltransferase domain. Furthermore, 30% of mutations altered a single amino acid, arginine 1408, to either a cysteine or histidine residue. We performed a sensitive in vitro acetyltransferase assay for these point mutants and show that they result in >90% loss of catalytic activity. As our results show that CREBBP mutations result in a loss of function, we modeled these events in mice by floxing one or both alleles of Crebbp and crossing with the Mb1-cre strain. This yielded mice that deleted Crebbp specifically in B-cells. We additionally crossed these mice with the EµBcl2 strain that over-expresses Bcl2 in B-cells.
Inactivation of Crebbp in B-cells was associated with deficits in B-cell development, with significantly reduced numbers of total B-cells that were contributed to by reductions in multiple B-cell subsets. These deficits were partially rescued by the EµBcl2 transgene. After 14-21 months, some mice became ill and necropsy revealed lymphadenopathy and splenomegaly as a result of B-cell lymphoma. We noted increased penetrance and decreased latency of lymphoma with one vs two alleles of Crebbp deleted, and with absence vs presence of the EµBcl2 transgene (Figure 1).
We investigated the molecular etiology of these tumors by isolating splenic B-cells from these mice and performing transcriptome profiling and epigenetic profiling for the histone H3 lysine 18 acetylation (H3K18Ac) mark that is catalyzed by Crebbp. Transcriptional profiling identified a signature of 335 genes with increased expression and 370 genes with decreased expression, including an incremental increase in Myc expression when one or both alleles of Crebbp were deleted, respectively. Surprisingly, changes in transcript abundance were not associated with changes in H3K18Ac in the proximal regulatory regions of those genes. Regions of significantly altered H3K18Ac were instead localized primarily to intragenic regions. Analysis of the DNA sequences in these regions identified a significant enrichment of motifs that contained Myc consensus sequences, and these were present in >60% of regions with altered H3K18Ac. In addition, ChIP-seq data from the ENCODE database showed a strong level of Myc binding to the center of these regions with altered H3K18Ac.
Together, our results demonstrate that inactivating mutations of Crebbp may have a role in altering B-cell development. The significant induction of Myc expression that was associated with Crebbp deletion, and epigenetic changes in regions that are bound by Myc, suggest that Crebbp inactivation may have a role in the induction of Myc expression and activity. This may be important with respect to transformation of FL, which may proceed via induction of MYC. However, our results also demonstrate some important discrepancies between the role of CREBBP mutations in human FL, and the role of Crebbp deletion in murine models.
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Lunning:Celgene: Consultancy; Spectrum: Consultancy; TG Therapeutics: Consultancy; Gilead: Consultancy; Genentech: Consultancy; Juno: Consultancy; Bristol-Myer-Squibb: Consultancy; AbbVie: Consultancy; Pharmacyclics: Consultancy.
Introduction
The ETV6-RUNX1 fusion gene,the most common subtype of childhood pB-ALL, is acquired in utero, producing a persistent and hidden preleukemic clone. However, the underlying mechanism ...explaining how the preleukemic clone evolves to pB-ALL remains to be identified. The lack of genetically engineered human-like ETV6-RUNX1 pB-ALL models has hampered our understanding of the pathogenesis of this disease.
Methods
We have used a novel experimental approach to generate a murine strain that mimics the human ETV6-RUNX1 pB-ALL. We expressed ETV6-RUNX1 specifically in hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) of C57BL/6 x CBA mice by placing ETV6-RUNX1 under the control of the Sca1 promoter. Two founder mice were obtained for the Sca1-ETV6-RUNX1 transgene, which had normal gestation, were viable and developed normally. Sca1-ETV6-RUNX1 transgenic mice were characterized with respect to clinical, immunephenotypic and genetic characteristics. For the detection of shared secondary genomic alterations we analyzed three murine Sca1-ETV6-RUNX1 and 11 ETV6-RUNX1 positive human pB-ALL and corresponding germline by whole-exome (WES) and whole-genome sequencing using a HiSeq 2500 (Illumina) platform.
Results
In our transgenic murine model Sca1-ETV6-RUNX1 transgene expression was detected in HSCs, while there was no detectable expression in pro B cells or later stages of B-cell development, which mimics human ETV6-RUNX1 preleukemic biology. Sca1-ETV6-RUNX1 mice developed exclusively pB-ALL at a low penetrance (7.5%; 3 out of 40) with a CD19+ B220+ IgM- cell surface phenotype. Overall survival was not significantly reduced compared to wild-type mice (P value = 0.7901). pB-ALL in Sca1-ETV6-RUNX1 mice manifested with splenomegaly, disruption of splenic architecture, and appearance of blast cells in the peripheral blood (PB). All leukemic cells displayed clonal immature BCR rearrangement. Tumor pro B cells grew independent of IL-7 and were able to propagate the disease when transplanted into sub-lethally irradiated syngeneic recipient mice. Whole-exome sequencing of murine pB-ALL revealed in one mouse a deletion of three amino acids in the B-cell differentiation factor EBF1, which is well known in the context of human ETV6-RUNX1 leukemia. Additionally we found mutations in genesimplicated in histone modification, i.e. in KDM5C causing a premature translation stop.
We compared the genomic alterations detected in the mouse model to published genomic data of pediatric ETV6 -RUNX1 pB-ALL and identified multiple copy number variations, which are shared between the murine and human ETV6 -RUNX1 pB-ALL. Among them were copy number gains and losses including i.e. the tumorsuppressor locus CDKN2A/B with a well-known role in human and mouse pB-ALL. A high proportion of genes implicated in histone modification was also mutated in published data of human ETV6-RUNX1 positive pB-ALL. We validated this novel finding of recurrent alterations of histone modifying genes in both the murine model and the human disease using an independent human ETV6-RUNX1 cohort of 11 patients. In this cohort were able to reproduce this finding. Similar to the murine model, we also detected a missense mutation in the methyltransferase KDM5C in one patient of our cohort of ETV6-RUNX1 positive patients.
Conclusion
In summary, we have characterized a new Sca1-ETV6-RUNX1 mouse model and this is, to our knowledge the first model, which represents a phenocopy of the human pB-ALL. Sca1-ETV6-RUNX1 mice develop exclusively pB-ALL at a very low penetrance as it is the case in human ETV6-RUNX1 positive pB-ALL. The acquisition of secondary mutations in pB-ALL with a high proportion in histone modifying genes confers the second hit for the conversion of a preleukemic clone into the clinically overt ETV6-RUNX1 positive pB-ALL disease. These findings are important for encouraging novel interventions that might help to prevent or treat ETV6-RUNX1 positive childhood leukemias.
No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
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