Nagel Stefan
Department of Human and Animal Cell Lines, Leibniz-Institute DSMZ, German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Inhoffenstr. 7B, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany.
Cancers (Basel). 2021 Apr 19;13(8):1961. doi: 10.3390/cancers13081961.
We have recently described physiological expression patterns of NKL homeobox genes in early hematopoiesis and in subsequent lymphopoiesis and myelopoiesis, including terminally differentiated blood cells. We thereby systematized differential expression patterns of eleven such genes which form the so-called NKL-code. Due to the developmental impact of NKL homeobox genes, these data suggest a key role for their activity in normal hematopoietic differentiation processes. On the other hand, the aberrant overexpression of NKL-code-members or the ectopical activation of non-code members have been frequently reported in lymphoid and myeloid leukemia/lymphoma, revealing the oncogenic potential of these genes in the hematopoietic compartment. Here, I provide an overview of the NKL-code in normal hematopoiesis and instance mechanisms of deregulation and oncogenic functions of selected NKL genes in hematologic cancers. As well as published clinical studies, our conclusions are based on experimental work using hematopoietic cell lines which represent useful models to characterize the role of NKL homeobox genes in specific tumor types.
我们最近描述了NKL同源框基因在早期造血以及随后的淋巴细胞生成和髓细胞生成（包括终末分化血细胞）中的生理表达模式。由此，我们对构成所谓NKL编码的11个此类基因的差异表达模式进行了系统化整理。鉴于NKL同源框基因对发育的影响，这些数据表明它们的活性在正常造血分化过程中起关键作用。另一方面，在淋巴和髓系白血病/淋巴瘤中经常报道NKL编码成员的异常过表达或非编码成员的异位激活，揭示了这些基因在造血系统中的致癌潜力。在此，我概述了正常造血中的NKL编码以及血液系统癌症中选定NKL基因的失调和致癌功能实例机制。除了已发表的临床研究外，我们的结论还基于使用造血细胞系的实验工作，这些细胞系是表征NKL同源框基因在特定肿瘤类型中作用的有用模型。
