High mobility group A1 protein acts as a new target of Notch1 signaling and regulates cell proliferation in T leukemia cells.

Active mutations of Notch1 play pivotal roles during leukemogenesis, but the downstream targets and molecular mechanisms of activated Notch1 signaling have not yet been fully clarified. In this study, we detected the overexpression of the high mobility group A1 (HMGA1) and activation of Notch1 signaling in mouse thymic lymphomas. A direct regulation of Notch1 on HMGA1 transcription was demonstrated and two Notch1/RBPJ cobinding sites of T/CTCCCACA were found in HMGA1 promoter regions. It was the first time demonstrated that HMGA1 was the downstream target of Notch1 signaling. Moreover, knockdown of HMGA1 resulted in significantly impaired cell growth and decreased expressions of cyclin D and cyclin E in human T leukemia cells. The formation of complexes was also observed between HMGA1 and retinoblastoma (RB) protein indicating a mechanism of cell cycle regulation. These findings suggest that activated HMGA1 regulates cell proliferation through the Notch1 signaling pathway, which represents an important molecular pathway leading to leukemogenesis.