Abstract
The eleven-nineteen leukemia (ENL) protein family, composed of ENL and AF9, is a common component of 3 transcriptional modulators: AF4-ENL-P-TEFb complex (AEP), DOT1L-AF10-ENL complex (referred to as the DOT1L complex) and polycomb-repressive complex 1 (PRC1). Each complex associates with chromatin via distinct mechanisms, conferring different transcriptional properties including activation, maintenance, and repression. The mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL) gene often fuses with ENL and AF10 family genes in leukemia. However, the functional interrelationship among those 3 complexes in leukemic transformation remains largely elusive. Here, we have shown that MLL-ENL and MLL-AF10 constitutively activate transcription by aberrantly inducing both AEP-dependent transcriptional activation and DOT1L-dependent transcriptional maintenance, mostly in the absence of PRC1, to fully transform hematopoietic progenitors. These results reveal a cooperative transcriptional activation mechanism of AEP and DOT1L and suggest a molecular rationale for the simultaneous inhibition of the MLL fusion-AF4 complex and DOT1L for more effective treatment of MLL-rearranged leukemia.
Highlights
Deregulation of gene expression can cause devastating cancers
Mass spectrometric (MS) analysis of the nucleosomes copurified with eleven-nineteen leukemia (ENL) showed enrichment of both unmodified and acetylated lysine 27 on histone H3 (Figure 1D), consistent with the model demonstrating that the YEATS domain of ENL associates with H3K27ac [17] and the PZP domain of AF10 family proteins binds to unmodified H3K27 [39]
We showed that mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL) fusion proteins, such as MLL-ENL and MLLAF10, exert 2 separate actions to cause leukemia in vivo: AEPdependent transcriptional activation and DOT1L-dependent transcriptional maintenance
Summary
The eleven-nineteen leukemia (ENL) protein family, composed of ENL and AF9, is a common component of 3 transcriptional modulators: AF4–ENL–P-TEFb complex (AEP), DOT1L-AF10-ENL complex (referred to as the DOT1L complex) and polycombrepressive complex 1 (PRC1). We have shown that MLL-ENL and MLL-AF10 constitutively activate transcription by aberrantly inducing both AEP-dependent transcriptional activation and DOT1L-dependent transcriptional maintenance, mostly in the absence of PRC1, to fully transform hematopoietic progenitors. These results reveal a cooperative transcriptional activation mechanism of AEP and DOT1L and suggest a molecular rationale for the simultaneous inhibition of the MLL fusion–AF4 complex and DOT1L for more effective treatment of MLL-rearranged leukemia
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