Deregulation of DUX4 and ERG in acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
PROVIDER: EGAS00001001923 | EGA |
REPOSITORIES: EGA
Similar Datasets
Project description:Translocations producing rearranged versions of the transcription factor DUX4 (DUX4-r) are one of the most frequent causes of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). DUX4-r retains the DNA binding domain of wt DUX4, but is truncated on the C-terminal transcription activation domain. The precise mechanism through which DUX4-r causes leukemia is unknown and no targeted therapy is currently available. We found that the rearrangement leads to both a loss and a gain of function in DUX4-r. Loss of CBP/EP300 transcriptional co-activators interaction and inability to bind and activate repressed chromatin. Gain of interaction with the transcription factor GTF2I, which redirects DUX4-r toward leukemogenic targets. Importantly, this neomorphic activity exposes an Achilles' heel whereby DUX4-r positive leukemia cells are exquisitely sensitive to GTF2I targeting, which inhibits DUX4-r leukemogenic activity. Our work elucidates the molecular mechanism through which DUX4-r causes leukemia and suggest a possible therapeutic avenue tailored to this B-ALL subtype.
2023-09-16 | PXD041273 | Pride
Project description:RNA-seq, ChIP-seq, and ATAC-seq files for PCGP SJERG paper titled "Deregulation of DUX4 and ERG in acute lymphoblastic leukemia"
| EGAD00001002681 | EGA
Project description:Translocations producing rearranged versions of the transcription factor DUX4 (DUX4-r) are one of the most frequent causes of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). DUX4-r retains the DNA binding domain of wt DUX4, but is truncated on the C-terminal transcription activation domain. The precise mechanism through which DUX4-r causes leukemia is unknown and no targeted therapy is currently available. We found that the rearrangement leads to both a loss and a gain of function in DUX4-r. Loss of CBP/EP300 transcriptional co-activators interaction and inability to bind and activate repressed chromatin. Gain of interaction with the transcription factor GTF2I, which redirects DUX4-r toward leukemogenic targets. Importantly, this neomorphic activity exposes an Achilles' heel whereby DUX4-r positive leukemia cells are exquisitely sensitive to GTF2I targeting, which inhibits DUX4-r leukemogenic activity. Our work elucidates the molecular mechanism through which DUX4-r causes leukemia and suggest a possible therapeutic avenue tailored to this B-ALL subtype.
2023-09-15 | GSE227982 | GEO
Project description:Translocations producing rearranged versions of the transcription factor DUX4 (DUX4-r) are one of the most frequent causes of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). DUX4-r retains the DNA binding domain of wt DUX4, but is truncated on the C-terminal transcription activation domain. The precise mechanism through which DUX4-r causes leukemia is unknown and no targeted therapy is currently available. We found that the rearrangement leads to both a loss and a gain of function in DUX4-r. Loss of CBP/EP300 transcriptional co-activators interaction and inability to bind and activate repressed chromatin. Gain of interaction with the transcription factor GTF2I, which redirects DUX4-r toward leukemogenic targets. Importantly, this neomorphic activity exposes an Achilles' heel whereby DUX4-r positive leukemia cells are exquisitely sensitive to GTF2I targeting, which inhibits DUX4-r leukemogenic activity. Our work elucidates the molecular mechanism through which DUX4-r causes leukemia and suggest a possible therapeutic avenue tailored to this B-ALL subtype.
2023-09-15 | GSE228473 | GEO
Project description:Structural chromosomal alterations are a hallmark of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) yet many patients lack an identifiable abnormality on conventional cytogenetic analysis. Here, using integrated analysis of genome-wide DNA copy number and gene expression data of 1764 childhood and adult ALL cases, including whole-genome, exome and mRNA-sequencing of 72 cases, we report a novel subtype of B-progenitor ALL (B-ALL) representing 4-13% of B-ALL cases characterized by a distinct gene expression profile, and focal deletions of ERG (ETS related gene) in 56% of cases. These cases are characterized by expression of a ERG transcript that utilizes a novel exon in intron 6 of ERG spliced to the canonical reading frame of ERG exons 7-10, encoding a 27 kDa C-terminal ERG protein that retains the ETS and transactivating domains but lacks the N-terminal pointed and regulatory domains. This protein is a competitive inhibitor of wild-type ERG and is leukemogenic in vivo. ERG-altered ALL cases have a favourable outcome despite the presence of alterations associated with poor prognosis in non-ERG ALL, such as deletions of IKZF1. These findings identify a new subtype of leukemia characterized by a novel mechanism of ETS transcription factor dysregulation in cancer.
| EGAS00001000514 | EGA
Project description:DUX4 is a double homeodomain transcription factor whose misexpression in the muscle causes facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). The transcriptional activity of DUX4 has been extensively characterized, and is thought to be the primary driver of FSHD pathogenesis. Yet, DUX4 expression lowers the protein level of an RNA quality control factor, UPF1, without affecting its transcript level, hinting at post-transcriptional regulatory activity downstream of DUX4 expression. How extensive the post-transcriptional activity of DUX4 is, and how relevant it is to FSHD pathogenesis, is unknown. In order to gain insight into DUX4-induced post-transcriptional gene regulation, we measured transcript and protein levels in DUX4 expressing cells via RNA-seq and SILAC-based quantitative mass spectrometry, respectively. We show that DUX4 transcriptional targets are robustly translated, including those genes previously identified as potential FSHD biomarkers. However, comparing the overall pattern of gene expression changes for RNA versus protein reveals striking differences in the most highly activated pathways, with the former showing changes in RNA processing and splicing, and the latter affecting the humoral immune response, proteolysis and exocytosis, among other pathways. Consistent with a misregulation of exocytosis, fluorescence imaging shows fragmented golgi apparatus in DUX4-expressing cells. Of the genes that showed discordant RNA and protein expression levels, post-transcriptional buffering was particularly evident for genes involved in stress response and may explain why DUX4-expressing cells succumb to toxicity despite robust transcriptional activation of stress response genes. Moreover, several genes involved in RNA decay including UPF1, UPF3B, SMG6 and XRN1 showed downregulation at the protein level, which may explain the massive inhibition of RNA quality control in DUX4-expressing cells. These results highlight the importance of considering post-transcriptional gene regulation in DUX4-expressing cells in order to fully understand the FSHD disease process.
2019-01-21 | PXD010221 | Pride
Project description:The Ets transcription factor, ERG, plays a central role in definitive hematopoiesis and its overexpression in acute myeloid leukemia is associated with a stem cell signature and bad prognosis. However, little is known about the underlying mechanism by which ERG causes leukemia. Therefore we sought to identify ERG targets that participate in development of leukemia by integration of expression arrays and Chromatin immunoprecipitation.
2013-08-13 | GSE49787 | GEO
Project description:Facioscapulohumoral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is caused by misexpression of the DUX4 transcription factor in skeletal muscle that results in transcriptional alterations, abnormal phenotypes, and cell death. To gain insight into the kinetics of DUX4-induced stresses, we activated DUX4 expression in myoblasts and performed longitudinal RNA sequencing paired with proteomics and phosphoproteomics. This analysis revealed changes in cellular physiology including DNA damage and altered mRNA splicing. Phosphoproteomic analysis uncovered widespread changes in protein phosphorylation rapidly following DUX4 induction indicating that alterations in kinase signaling may play a role in DUX4-mediated stress and cell death. Indeed, we demonstrate that two stress-responsive MAP kinase pathways, JNK and p38, are activated in response to DUX4 expression. Inhibition of each of these pathways ameliorated DUX4-mediated cell death in myoblasts. These findings uncover JNK as a novel pathway involved in DUX4-mediated cell death as well as provide additional insights into the role of the p38 pathway, a clinical target for the treatment of FSHD.
2022-07-05 | MSV000089812 | MassIVE
Project description:High expression of the ETS family transcription factor ERG is associated with poor clinical outcome in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). In murine models, high ERG expression induces both T-ALL and AML. However, no study to date has defined the effect of high ERG expression on primary human hematopoietic cells. In the present study, human CD34+ cells were transduced with retroviral vectors to elevate ERG gene expression to levels detected in high ERG AML. RNA sequencing was performed on purified populations of transduced cells to define the effects of high ERG on gene expression in human CD34+ cells. Integration of the genome-wide expression data with other data sets revealed that high ERG drives an expression signature that shares features of normal hematopoietic stem cells, high ERG AMLs, early T-cell precursor-ALLs and leukemic stem cell signatures associated with poor clinical outcome. Functional assays linked this gene expression profile to enhanced progenitor cell expansion. These results support a model whereby a stem cell gene expression network driven by high ERG in human cells enhances the expansion of the progenitor pool, providing opportunity for the acquisition and propagation of mutations and the development of leukemia.
2014-10-31 | GSE53665 | GEO
Project description:Chromosomal rearrangements involving EVI1 (MECOM) define a subtype of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) that is associated with a two-year survival rate of <10%. Gene regulatory functions of EVI1 are largely elusive and no targeted therapeutics exist. We developed experimentally tractable murine and human leukemia models that recapitulate phenotypic and transcriptional features of EVI1-rearranged AML and enable large-scale loss-of-function screens. We characterize EVI1-controlled transcriptional programs in cell culture and in vivo, perform CRISPR screens and identify the ETS-related transcription factor ERG as the only gene that is specifically required for EVI1-driven AML. ERG is transcriptionally activated by EVI1 and overexpressed in EVI1-rearranged AML patients. ERG suppression selectively induces terminal differentiation of leukemia cells. EVI1 becomes dispensable for leukemia cells upon ectopic expression of ERG, indicating that key functions of EVI1 are mediated through aberrant activation of ERG. Interfering with this regulatory axis may therefore provide new entry points for rational therapies.
2022-10-11 | GSE195497 | GEO