Project description:Children with Down syndrome have a 150-fold increased risk of developing the myeloid leukemia of Down syndrome (ML-DS). ML-DS is preceded by transient abnormal myelopoiesis (TAM), which spontaneously resolves in most cases but progresses to AML with additional mutations most commonly in the cohesin complex or signaling genes. However, the mechanisms by which these alterations promote leukemia are unknown. Here, we leveraged isogenic cell lines and patient data to investigate the role of cohesin mutations in leukemia progression. Multi-omic analyses revealed that haploinsufficiency of the cohesin complex suppresses the occupancy of CIITA at HLA class II loci, leading to a reduction in HLA Class II gene expression. Surface levels of HLA-DR are lower in ML-DS relative to TAM and these decreased levels are associated with an increased risk of TAM progression. Of note, a decrease in HLA-Class II gene expression is also a feature of non-DS AML with reduced expression of cohesin family members. These data suggest that unlike TAM, ML-DS blasts may evade the immune system by reduced HLA class II expression, providing a new model for leukemia progression in DS.
Project description:Children with Down syndrome have a 150-fold increased risk of developing the myeloid leukemia of Down syndrome (ML-DS). ML-DS is preceded by transient abnormal myelopoiesis (TAM), which spontaneously resolves in most cases but progresses to AML with additional mutations most commonly in the cohesin complex or signaling genes. However, the mechanisms by which these alterations promote leukemia are unknown. Here, we leveraged isogenic cell lines and patient data to investigate the role of cohesin mutations in leukemia progression. Multi-omic analyses revealed that haploinsufficiency of the cohesin complex suppresses the occupancy of CIITA at HLA class II loci, leading to a reduction in HLA Class II gene expression. Surface levels of HLA-DR are lower in ML-DS relative to TAM and these decreased levels are associated with an increased risk of TAM progression. Of note, a decrease in HLA-Class II gene expression is also a feature of non-DS AML with reduced expression of cohesin family members. These data suggest that unlike TAM, ML-DS blasts may evade the immune system by reduced HLA class II expression, providing a new model for leukemia progression in DS.
Project description:Children with Down syndrome have a 150-fold increased risk of developing the myeloid leukemia of Down syndrome (ML-DS). ML-DS is preceded by transient abnormal myelopoiesis (TAM), which spontaneously resolves in most cases but progresses to AML with additional mutations most commonly in the cohesin complex or signaling genes. However, the mechanisms by which these alterations promote leukemia are unknown. Here, we leveraged isogenic cell lines and patient data to investigate the role of cohesin mutations in leukemia progression. Multi-omic analyses revealed that haploinsufficiency of the cohesin complex suppresses the occupancy of CIITA at HLA class II loci, leading to a reduction in HLA Class II gene expression. Surface levels of HLA-DR are lower in ML-DS relative to TAM and these decreased levels are associated with an increased risk of TAM progression. Of note, a decrease in HLA-Class II gene expression is also a feature of non-DS AML with reduced expression of cohesin family members. These data suggest that unlike TAM, ML-DS blasts may evade the immune system by reduced HLA class II expression, providing a new model for leukemia progression in DS.
Project description:Uveal melanoma (UM) with an inflammatory phenotype, characterized by infiltrating leukocytes and increased human leukocyte antigen (HLA) expression, carry an increased risk of death due to metastases. These tumors shoud be ideal for T-cell based therapies, yet it is not clear why prognostically-infaust tumors have a high HLA expression. We set out to determine whether the level of HLA molecules in UM is associated with other genetic factors, HLA transcriptional regulators, or microenvironmental factors. 28 enucleated UM were used to study HLA class I and II expression, and several regulators of HLA by immunohistochemistry, PCR microarray, qPCR and chromosome SNP-array. Fresh tumor samples of eight primary UM and four metastases were compared to their corresponding xenograft in SCID mice, using a PCR microarray and SNP array. Increased expression levels of HLA class I and II showed no dosage effect of chromosome 6p, but, as expected, were associated with monosomy of chromosome 3. Increased HLA class I and II protein levels were positively associated with their gene expression and with raised levels of the peptide-loading gene TAP1, and HLA transcriptional regulators IRF1, IRF8, CIITA, and NLRC5, revealing a higher transcriptional activity in prognostically-bad tumors. Implantation of fresh human tumor samples into SCID mice led to a loss of infiltrating leukocytes, and to a decreased expression of HLA class I and II genes , and their regulators. Our data provides evidence for a proper functioning HLA regulatory system in UM, offering a target for T-cell based therapies. NB: Here we show the PCR microarray (Illumina array).
Project description:Children with Down syndrome have a 150-fold increased risk of developing the myeloid leukemia of Down syndrome (ML-DS). ML-DS is preceded by transient abnormal myelopoiesis (TAM), which spontaneously resolves in most cases but progresses to AML with additional mutations most commonly in the cohesin complex or signaling genes. However, the mechanisms by which these alterations promote leukemia are unknown. Here, we leveraged isogenic cell lines and patient data to investigate the role of cohesin mutations in leukemia progression. Multi-omic analyses revealed that haploinsufficiency of the cohesin complex suppresses the occupancy of CIITA at HLA class II loci, leading to a reduction in HLA Class II gene expression. Surface levels of HLA-DR are lower in ML-DS relative to TAM and these decreased levels are associated with an increased risk of TAM progression. Of note, a decrease in HLA-Class II gene expression is also a feature of non-DS AML with reduced expression of cohesin family members. These data suggest that unlike TAM, ML-DS blasts may evade the immune system by reduced HLA class II expression, providing a new model for leukemia progression in DS.
Project description:Children with Down syndrome have a 150-fold increased risk of developing the myeloid leukemia of Down syndrome (ML-DS). ML-DS is preceded by transient abnormal myelopoiesis (TAM), which spontaneously resolves in most cases but progresses to AML with additional mutations most commonly in the cohesin complex or signaling genes. However, the mechanisms by which these alterations promote leukemia are unknown. Here, we leveraged isogenic cell lines and patient data to investigate the role of cohesin mutations in leukemia progression. Multi-omic analyses revealed that haploinsufficiency of the cohesin complex suppresses the occupancy of CIITA at HLA class II loci, leading to a reduction in HLA Class II gene expression. Surface levels of HLA-DR are lower in ML-DS relative to TAM and these decreased levels are associated with an increased risk of TAM progression. Of note, a decrease in HLA-Class II gene expression is also a feature of non-DS AML with reduced expression of cohesin family members. These data suggest that unlike TAM, ML-DS blasts may evade the immune system by reduced HLA class II expression, providing a new model for leukemia progression in DS.