Journal
CELL STEM CELL
Volume 28, Issue 5, Pages 906-+Publisher
CELL PRESS
DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2021.03.023
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Funding
- Excellence Initiative of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Tuebingen
- Bundesministerium fur Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) MyPred
- Else Kroener-Fresenius Foundation
- Jose Carreras Leukemia Foundation
- Madeleine Schickedanz Kinderkrebsstiftung
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
- COST EuNet-INNOCHRON action from the European Union (EU)
- internal funding program Fortune of the Medical Faculty of the Tubingen University
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By editing CN patient-derived iPSCs using CRISPR-Cas9, this study established a model of stepwise leukemogenesis in CN/AML and identified the upregulation of BAALC and phosphorylation of MK2a as key events in leukemogenesis. Deleting BAALC or using a selective inhibitor of MK2a phosphorylation, CMPD1, can prevent cell proliferation and induce differentiation of CN/AML cells.
Severe congenital neutropenia (CN) is a pre-leukemic bone marrow failure syndrome that can evolve to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Mutations in CSF3R and RUNX1 are frequently observed in CN patients, although how they drive the transition from CN to AML (CN/AML) is unclear. Here we establish a model of stepwise leukemogenesis in CN/AML using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing of CN patient-derived iPSCs. We identified BAALC upregulation and resultant phosphorylation of MK2a as a key leukemogenic event. BAALC deletion or treatment with CMPD1, a selective inhibitor of MK2a phosphorylation, blocked proliferation and induced differentiation of primary CN/AML blasts and CN/AML iPSC-derived hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) without affecting healthy donor or CN iPSC-derived HSPCs. Beyond detailing a useful method for future investigation of stepwise leukemogenesis, this study suggests that targeting BAALC and/or MK2a phosphorylation may prevent leukemogenic transformation or eliminate AML blasts in CN/AML and RUNX1 mutant BAALC(hi) de novo AML.
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