Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
Division of Experimental Hematology and Cancer Biology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
Blood Cancer J. 2020 Oct 6;10(10):98. doi: 10.1038/s41408-020-00362-7.
Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is a heterogeneous myeloid malignancy characterized by blood cell morphological dysplasia, ineffective clonal hematopoiesis, and risk of transformation to secondary acute myeloid leukemia (sAML). A number of genetic abnormalities have been identified in MDS and sAML, but sensitive sequencing methods can detect these mutations in nearly all healthy individuals by 60 years of age. To discover novel cellular pathways that accelerate MDS and sAML, we performed a CRISPR/Cas9 screen in the human MDS-L cell line. We report here that loss of the F-Box protein FBXO11, a component of the SCF ubiquitin ligase complex, confers cytokine independent growth to MDS-L cells, suggesting a tumor suppressor role for FBXO11 in myeloid malignancies. Putative FBXO11 substrates are enriched for proteins with functions in RNA metabolism and, of note, spliceosome mutations that are commonly found in MDS/sAML are rare in patients with low FBXO11 expression. We also reveal that loss of FBXO11 leads to significant changes in transcriptional pathways influencing leukocyte proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. Last, we find that FBXO11 expression is reduced in patients with secondary AML. We conclude that loss of FBXO11 is a mechanism for disease transformation of MDS into AML, and may represent a future therapeutic target.
骨髓增生异常综合征 (MDS) 是一种异质性髓系恶性肿瘤,其特征为血细胞形态学发育不良、无效的克隆性造血以及向继发性急性髓系白血病 (sAML) 转化的风险。在 MDS 和 sAML 中已经鉴定出许多遗传异常,但到 60 岁时,敏感的测序方法几乎可以在所有健康个体中检测到这些突变。为了发现加速 MDS 和 sAML 的新细胞途径,我们在人类 MDS-L 细胞系中进行了 CRISPR/Cas9 筛选。我们在此报告,F-Box 蛋白 FBXO11 的缺失,SCF 泛素连接酶复合物的一个组成部分,赋予 MDS-L 细胞细胞因子独立生长能力,表明 FBXO11 在髓样恶性肿瘤中起肿瘤抑制作用。推定的 FBXO11 底物富含在 RNA 代谢中具有功能的蛋白质,值得注意的是,在 MDS/sAML 中常见的剪接体突变在 FBXO11 低表达的患者中很少见。我们还揭示了 FBXO11 的缺失会导致影响白细胞增殖、分化和凋亡的转录途径发生重大变化。最后,我们发现 FBXO11 在继发性 AML 患者中的表达降低。我们得出结论,FBXO11 的缺失是 MDS 向 AML 转化的疾病转化机制,可能代表未来的治疗靶点。