Tet1 is not required for myeloid leukemogenesis by MLL-ENL in novel mouse models

PLoS One. 2021 Mar 11;16(3):e0248425. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248425. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

The Ten Eleven Translocation 1 (TET1) gene encodes an epigenetic modifying molecule that is involved in demethylation of 5-methylcytosine. In hematological malignancies, loss-of-function mutations of TET2, which is one of the TET family genes including TET1, are frequently found, while the mutations of TET1 are not. However, clinical studies have revealed that TET1 is highly expressed in some cases of the hematological malignancies including acute myeloid leukemia. Indeed, studies by mouse models using conventional Tet1 knockout mice demonstrated that Tet1 is involved in myeloid leukemogenesis by Mixed Lineage Leukemia (MLL) fusion gene or TET2 mutant. Meanwhile, the other study showed that Tet1 is highly expressed in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), and that deletion of Tet1 in HSCs enhances potential self-renewal capacity, which is potentially associated with myeloid leukemogenesis. To examine the role of Tet1 in myeloid leukemogenesis more precisely, we generated novel conditional Tet1-knockout mice, which were used to generate the compound mutant mice by crossing with the inducible MLL-ENL transgenic mice that we developed previously. The leukemic immortalization in vitro was not critically affected by conditional ablation of Tet1 in HSCs with the induced expression of MLL-ENL or in hematopoietic progenitor cells retrovirally transduced with MLL-ENL. In addition, the leukemic phenotypes caused by the induced expression of MLL-ENL in vivo was not also critically affected in the compound mutant mouse model by conditional ablation of Tet1, although we found that the expression of Evi1, which is one of critical target genes of MLL fusion gene, in tumor cells was remarkably low under Tet1-ablated condition. These results revealed that Tet1 was dispensable for the myeloid leukemogenesis by MLL-ENL, suggesting that the therapeutic application of Tet1 inhibition may need careful assessment.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Carcinogenesis* / genetics
  • Carcinogenesis* / metabolism
  • DNA-Binding Proteins* / genetics
  • DNA-Binding Proteins* / metabolism
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Leukemic*
  • Hematopoietic Stem Cells / metabolism
  • Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase* / genetics
  • Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase* / metabolism
  • Leukemia, Myeloid* / genetics
  • Leukemia, Myeloid* / metabolism
  • Mice
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Myeloid-Lymphoid Leukemia Protein* / genetics
  • Myeloid-Lymphoid Leukemia Protein* / metabolism
  • Neoplasms, Experimental* / genetics
  • Neoplasms, Experimental* / metabolism
  • Oncogene Proteins, Fusion* / genetics
  • Oncogene Proteins, Fusion* / metabolism
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins* / genetics
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins* / metabolism
  • Transcription Factors* / genetics
  • Transcription Factors* / metabolism

Substances

  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • Mllt1 protein, mouse
  • Oncogene Proteins, Fusion
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins
  • TET1 protein, mouse
  • Transcription Factors
  • Myeloid-Lymphoid Leukemia Protein
  • Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase
  • Kmt2a protein, mouse

Grants and funding

The study was supported by Grants-in-Aid from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology in Japan (https://www.mext.go.jp/en/; T.N.; Basic-B; 17H04227 and 26293247, and R.O.; Basic-C; 18K08352, 15K09452), and Sanikai (http://sanikai.info/; R.O. (no grant numbers awarded)). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.