Without GABP Transcription Factor, BCR-ABL Cannot Transform HSCs to Leukemic Stem Cells Nor Induce Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia in Mice

Abstract 965

Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) is driven by the fusion oncogene, BCR-ABL, which transforms normal hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) to leukemic stem cells (LSCs). Tyrosine kinase inhibitors, such as imatinib mesylate, control the massive expansion of leukemic cells in most patients with CML, but cannot eradicate CML LSCs. Several genetic pathways have been shown to be critical for the growth and survival of CML LSCs, including signaling molecules, tumor suppressors, and metabolic regulators. However, the role of transcription factors in functional regulation of LSCs in CML has not been widely studied. GA Binding Protein (GABP) is an ets transcription factor that is required for entry of fibroblasts into the cell cycle, and expression of Gabpa (the DNA-binding component of the complex), alone, was sufficient to induce quiescent, serum-starved cells to enter the cell cycle. Thus, Gabp is both necessary and sufficient for cell cycle entry. Conditional deletion of Gabpa in mouse bone marrow decreased hematopoietic progenitor cells more than 100-fold, but hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) were relatively preserved. Gabpα null HSCs exhibited significant cell cycle arrest. We sought to determine if the cell cycle arrest caused by Gabpa loss could impair development of CML cells in a mouse model. We used retroviral infection of bone marrow from 5-FU-treated mice (to enrich for stem and progenitor cells) to generate a rapidly fatal CML-like syndrome in mice. Bone marrow from mice with loxP-flanked (floxed) Gabpa and wild type control mice was infected with a retrovirus that co-expresses BCR-ABL, Cre recombinase, and green fluorescent protein (GFP). As expected, transplantation into recipient mice of control mouse bone marrow infected with BCR-ABL-Cre-GFP retrovirus caused a rapidly fatal myeloproliferative neoplasm, with a median survival of approximately three weeks; mice died with massive infiltration of GFP+ myeloid cells in peripheral blood cell, spleen, bone marrow, and other organs. In floxed Gabpa bone marrow, the retrovirus deleted floxed Gabpa in cells that express the BCR-ABL fusion oncogene, and these cells were identifiable based on GFP expression. Transplantation of floxed Gabpa bone marrow infected with BCR-ABL-Cre-GFP retrovirus failed to induce CML during six months of observation. Importantly, GFP+ peripheral blood granulocytes were observed for at least 6 months after transplantation; these CD11b+, Gr1+ cells continued to express BCR-ABL and were shown to be Gabpa null. These results indicate that the lack of Gabpa severely impaired the function of LSCs. In addition, secondary transplantation of bone marrow from these mice again demonstrated the presence of BCR-ABL-expressing peripheral blood myeloid cells. We conclude that Gabp transcription factor is required for the transformation of HSCs to LSCs by BCR-ABL. Furthermore, the persistence of BCR-ABL-expressing myeloid cells without the development of leukemia provides a unique model that permits analysis of the biological properties of BCR-ABL in vivo. The continued generation of BCR-ABL-expressing cells without CML development is unprecedented, and represents a unique model of leukemia tumor suppression.