title: Common mechanism for oncogenic activation of MLL by forkhead family proteins.
abstract: The mixed lineage leukemia (MLL) gene undergoes fusions with a diverse set of genes as a consequence of chromosomal translocations in acute leukemias. Two of these partner genes code for members of the forkhead subfamily of transcription factors designated FKHRL1 and AFX. We demonstrate here that MLL-FKHRL1 enhances the self-renewal of murine myeloid progenitors in vitro and induces acute myeloid leukemias in syngeneic mice. The long latency (mean = 157 days), reduced penetrance, and hematologic features of the leukemias were very similar to those observed for the forkhead fusion protein MLL-AFX and contrasted with the more aggressive features of leukemias induced by MLL-AF10. Transformation mediated by MLL-forkhead fusion proteins required 2 conserved transcriptional effector domains (CR2 and CR3), each of which alone was not sufficient to activate MLL. A synthetic fusion of MLL with FKHR, a third mammalian forkhead family member that contains both effector domains, was also capable of transforming hematopoietic progenitors in vitro. A comparable requirement for 2 distinct transcriptional effector domains was also displayed by VP16, which required its proximal minimal transactivation domain (MTD/H1) and distal H2 domain to activate the oncogenic potential of MLL. The functional importance of CR2 was further demonstrated by its ability to substitute for H2 of VP16 in domain-swapping experiments to confer oncogenic activity on MLL. Our results, based on bona fide transcription factors as partners for MLL, unequivocally establish a transcriptional effector mechanism to activate its oncogenic potential and further support a role for fusion partners in determining pathologic features of the leukemia phenotype.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Chi Wai
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: So
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Cleary
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D002460:Cell Line; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000187:drug effects; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000502:physiology; D000071161:Forkhead Box Protein O1; D000071316:Forkhead Box Protein O3; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors; D011495:Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase; D007938:Leukemia / Q000209:etiology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D023461:Myeloid Progenitor Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects; D051788:Myeloid-Lymphoid Leukemia Protein; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011519:Proto-Oncogenes; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000502:physiology*; D014161:Transduction, Genetic
chemical_list: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C108803:FOXO4 protein, human; D000071161:Forkhead Box Protein O1; D000071316:Forkhead Box Protein O3; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors; C474033:FoxO3 protein, mouse; C467200:Foxo1 protein, mouse; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D051788:Myeloid-Lymphoid Leukemia Protein; D011495:Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase; C497423:Kmt2a protein, mouse