Fusion-protein truncation provides new insights into leukemogenesis.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Bruce A Hug.
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RUNX2 is a transcription factor with a well-characterized role in bone development. In this issue of Cell, Vega and colleagues (Vega et al., 2004) show that HDAC4 interacts with RUNX2 and impacts upon chondrocyte hypertrophy and bone formation.
The 8;21 translocation produces a fusion between the ETO gene and that encoding the myeloid transcription factor AML1. The AML1-ETO fusion substitutes the majority of the ETO protein for the coregulator recruitment domains of AML1. Biochemical analyses of ETO have led to the identification of numerous interacting proteins including many corepressors. Importantly, the proteins interacting with ETO are different from those of wild-type AML1, suggesting that altered coregulator recruitment underlies the oncogenic properties of AML1-ETO. The list of corepressors capable of binding ETO includes histone deacetylases (HDACs) and components of distinct HDAC core complexes. These investigations have provided mechanistic insight into corepressor recruitment by ETO and clues to the leukemogenic activity of AML1-ETO.
RUNX1 (also known as AML1) is a DNA-binding transcription factor that functions as a tumor suppressor and developmental determinant in hematopoietic cells. Target promoters have been identified primarily through the use of differential expression strategies and candidate gene approaches but not biochemical screens. Using a chromatin immunoprecipitation screen, we identified protein kinase Cbeta as a direct RUNX1 target gene and demonstrate that endogenous RUNX1 binds the chromatinized protein kinase Cbeta promoter of U937 cells. A phylogenetically conserved RUNX1-binding site within the PKCbeta promoter binds RUNX1 in electrophoretic mobility shift analyses and confers RUNX1 responsiveness on a heterologous promoter. Changes in RUNX1 activity affect endogenous protein kinase Cbeta expression, and a dominant-negative form of RUNX1 protects U937 cells from apoptotic stimuli previously shown to be dependent on protein kinase Cbeta. This protection can be reversed by the ectopic expression of protein kinase Cbeta. Together these findings demonstrate that protein kinase Cbeta is a direct, downstream target of RUNX1 and links RUNX1 to a myeloid apoptotic pathway.
AML1-ETO is an oncoprotein that can promote self-renewal of primary hematopoietic cells by opposing the activity of AML1. Two domains, Nervy-homology(NH) 2 and NH4, have been implicated in the recruitment of corepressors by AML1-ETO, but the relative roles of NH2 and NH4 vary in different cell lines and have not been examined in nonimmortalized cells. Here, we have used a series of differentiation, proliferation, and self-renewal assays in an effort to determine the roles of the NH domains using progenitor-enriched primary bone marrow cells. In these assays, deletion of NH2 or NH4, individually, has a minimal effect on AML1-ETO function, and the mutants retain the ability to promote long-term expansion of cells. In contrast, the double deletion of NH2 and NH4 eliminates the activity of the fusion protein. Thus, the double deletion of NH2 and NH4 produces a functional deficit greater than the sum of the individual deletions. These findings suggest that the NH2 and NH4 domains function cooperatively in the corepressor environment of primary bone marrow cells.