Roles of Ring1A/B on Stem Cell Potential of MOZ and Other Acute Myeloid Leukemias,

Abstract 3998

Leukemia and other cancers possess self-renewing stem cells that help maintain cancer. Chromosomal translocations are often involved in the development of human acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The monocytic leukemia zinc finger (MOZ) gene is one of the targets of such translocations. While MOZ is essential for the self-renewal of hematopoietic stem cells, the leukemia associated MOZ-fusion proteins enable the transformation of non–self-renewing myeloid progenitors into leukemia stem cells.

Ring1A and Ring1B are catalytic subunits of the polycomb-group repressive complex 1 (PRC1) complex containing Bmi1, and PRC1 complex plays an important role in the regulation of stem cell self-renewal. Using Ring1A-null and Ring1B-conditional deficient mice, we showed that Ring1A/B are required for continuous colony forming ability that is enabled by MOZ-TIF2 and other AML-associated fusions such as MLL-AF10, AML1-ETO, and PML-RARα. Furthermore, MOZ-TIF2- and MLL-AF10-induced AML development in mice were prevented by Ring 1A/B deficiency.

To clarify the mechanism of stemness regulation in AML stem cells by PRC1 complex, we compared gene expression profiles of Ring1A/B deleted and non-deleted MOZ-TIF2-induced AML cells. As expected, Ink4a/Arf, a known major target of PRC1 complex involved in stem cell functions, was derepressed by deletion of Ring1A/B. Although deletion of Ink4a/Arf in Ring1A/B deficient AML cells partially restored colony formation ability, it was not substantial to initiate leukemia in recipient mice. Among several target genes which were derepressed by deletion of Ring1A/B, we focused on “Stemness inhibitory factor (SIF)”, known to be required for cell differentiation and morphogenesis in some specific organs. Enforced expression of SIF in MOZ-TIF2-induced AML cells stimulated differentiation of AML progenitors into macrophages. On the other hand, knock-down of SIF blocked cell differentiation block and restored the immortalizing ability of MOZ-TIF2-induced AML progenitors, despite of the absence of Ring1A/B.

Collectively, our data demonstrate that Ring 1A/B play crucial roles in the maintenance of AML stem cells through repression of SIF, which strongly promote differentiation of leukemia stem cells.