Identification of Marker Genes That Discriminate between Different Myeloproliferative Disorders and Normal Individuals Including RUNX3 (AML2).

Myeloproliferative disorders (MPD) are clonal stem cell diseases, which are defined by excessive production of cells in one or more hematopoietic lineages. The molecular mechanisms underlying the development of agnogenic myeloid metaplasia (AMM), polycythemia vera (PV), and essential thrombocythemia (ET) are currently poorly understood. We performed microarray analysis on 26 granulocyte samples from AMM (4), ET (5), PV (6) and normal (11) individuals in order to identify genes that: 1) distinguish MPD from normal samples and 2) distinguish between these diseases. Our data revealed a group of genes that were differentially expressed in MPD compared to normal or were differentially expressed between the three different diseases. Cytokine signaling has often been reported in development or progression of these diseases. Several of these aberrantly expressed genes included those involved in TGF-beta signaling. RUNX3 (AML2), a transcription factor that is involved in the signaling cascade mediated by TGF-beta, was markedly overexpressed in MPD (AMM 4.9-fold; PV 8.1-fold; ET 9.5-fold) compared to normal. TIEG1 (TGF-beta-inducible early growth response 1) was upregulated in AMM (6.4-fold), PV (9.5-fold), ET (16.7-fold) compared to normal. Moreover, TNFAIP3 (TNF alpha-induced protein 3) was overexpressed in MPD (AMM 13.8-fold; PV 11.6-fold; ET 9.3-fold) compared to normal, which might also suggest a potential role of TNF-alpha signaling in the pathogenesis of MPD. We also found several genes that could discriminate each disease from each other. For example, ZNF292 (zinc finger protein 292) was overexpressed in PV and ET (7.1-fold and 2.9-fold, respectively), but AMM had similar expression levels to normals. CCNL2 (cyclin L2) was overexpressed in ET (2.4-fold), unchanged in PV and downregulated by 5-fold in AMM compared to normal. Expression levels of all of these genes were confirmed by real-time PCR, and immunohistochemistry staining of normal and MPD samples for RUNX3 was comparable to our array data. We hypothesize that RUNX3 might play a role in myelopoiesis. RUNX3 mRNA levels in HL-60 cells cultured with ATRA (100 and 1000 nM) markedly (16 to 20-fold) and maximally increased by day 3. Levels subsided to control levels by day 7, suggesting that RUNX3 may be initially involved in HL-60 differentiation but returns to normal levels as these cells matured or underwent terminal differentiation. In MPD, the high levels of RUNX3 in the aberrant neutrophils might indicate that these cells are blocked at approximately the equivalent timepoint (day 3 for HL-60). Their differentiation program has been initiated, but they cannot undergo the final stages of terminal maturation as reflected by their high RUNX3 levels. In summary, this study identified genes, whose expression levels may serve as diagnostic markers in MPD.