The bHLH Transcription Factors SCL and LYL1 Awaken Hematopoietic Stem Cells by Repression of p21

Abstract 214

The basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors SCL (TAL1) and LYL1 are regulators of adult hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) activity with significant functional redundancy: HSCs lacking SCL (SCL^δ/δ) have a mild defect in short-term repopulating activity whilst HSCs lacking LYL1 (LYL1^−/−) have normal repopulating activity. In contrast, we have shown previously that HSCs lacking both SCL and LYL1 (DKO) are unable to grow in vitro and have no in vivo repopulating activity. Phenotypic and expression analyses of SCL^δ/δ, LYL1^−/− and DKO mice were performed to determine how bHLH factors regulate HSC activity. Consistent with the short-term repopulating defects of SCL^δ/δ HSC, Lineage negative Sca-1⁺ c-Kit⁺ (LSK) bone marrow cells from SCL^δ/δ mice had reduced in vitro replating activity associated with increased quiescence – 90% in G₀ compared with 70% in normal LSK. Increased quiescence was associated with delayed hematopoietic recovery following treatment of mice with 5-Fluorouracil. Consistent with the increased quiescence, expression of the cell cycle inhibitor, Cdkn1a (p21) was increased three-fold in SCL^δ/δ and LYL1^−/− LSK. Moreover, p21 levels in LSK isolated from DKO mice were increased 50-fold. To determine the functional relevance of the elevated levels of p21 in DKO HSCs, we generated DKO mice on a p21-deficient (p21^−/−) background. Remarkably, loss of p21 rescued in vitro cell growth of DKO progenitors. More importantly, primary and secondary competitive repopulation assays demonstrated multi-lineage repopulating activity of p21^−/− DKO HSCs. These results suggest the bHLH factors SCL and LYL1 function as repressors of p21, allowing HSCs to enter cell cycle during stress hematopoiesis.