The Interplay Between Microrna-223 and E2F1 Regulates Cell Cycle Control During Granulopoiesis.

Abstract 255

Transcription factor CCAAT enhancer binding protein α (C/EBPα) functions as a master regulator of granulocyte development by co-ordinating cell cycle inhibition and differentiation. Recent findings demonstrate that deregulation of C/EBPα is a critical step in the development of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Inhibition of E2F1, the key regulator of cell cycle progression by C/EBPα is essential for granulopoiesis and disruption of this function of C/EBPα leads to leukemia. The mechanism with which C/EBPα inhibits E2F1 in granulopoiesis is poorly understood. Recent advances in our understanding about microRNAs suggest that these molecules have profound impact in gene expression programmes. Also, deregulation of microRNAs has been shown as a hall mark of many cancers including leukemia. microRNA-223 (miR-223) is upregulated by C/EBPα during granulopoiesis. The pivotal role of miR-223 in granulopoiesis is shown by the finding that mice deficient for miR-223 display defects in granulopoiesis. In this study, we explored the role of miR-223 in the cell cycle inhibition function of C/EBPα. Computational analysis by using programmes such as Target Scan suggests that E2F1 is a putative target of miR-223. Luciferase assays using 3'UTR of E2F1 suggest E2F1 is a potential target of miR-223. Western blot analysis using bone marrow cells isolated from miR-223 null mice shows accumulation of E2F1 protein levels. Interestingly, E2F1 protein levels were downregulated during miR-223 overexpression in myeloid cells. Analysis of miR-223 by quantitative Real-Time RT-PCR in AML patient samples shows that miR-223 is downregulated in different subtypes of AML. Proliferation assays, cell cycle analysis and BrdU assays show that miR-223 functions as an inhibitor of myeloid cell cycle progression. Several studies have reported the ability of E2F1 to block granulocytic differentiation. We next analysed whether E2F1 is inhibiting myeloid differentiation through miR-223. Promoter assays show that E2F1 inhibits the miR-223 promoter activity. By using Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays, we found that E2F1 binds to miR-223 promoter in leukemia derived cell lines and this binding is reversed during granulocytic differentiation. We also observed that E2F1 is bound to the miR-223 promoter in blast cells isolated from AML patients as analysed by chromatin immunoprecipitation assays. In addition, we show that overexpression of E2F1 leads to down regulation of miR-223 levels in myeloid cells. All these data suggest that E2F1 functions as a transcriptional repressor of the miR-223 gene. Taken together, our data suggest that granulopoiesis is regulated by the interplay between miR-223 and E2F1 and deregulation of this interplay may lead to the development of AML. Overexpression of miR-223 could be a potential strategy in the treatment of AML patients in which E2F1 inhibition by C/EBPα is deregulated.