iPSC modeling of stage-specific leukemogenesis reveals BAALC as a key oncogene in severe congenital neutropenia.

Severe congenital neutropenia (CN) is a pre-leukemic bone marrow failure syndrome that can evolve to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Mutations in CSF3R and RUNX1 are frequently observed in CN patients, although how they drive the transition from CN to AML (CN/AML) is unclear. Here we establish a model of stepwise leukemogenesis in CN/AML using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing of CN patient-derived iPSCs. We identified BAALC upregulation and resultant phosphorylation of MK2a as a key leukemogenic event. BAALC deletion or treatment with CMPD1, a selective inhibitor of MK2a phosphorylation, blocked proliferation and induced differentiation of primary CN/AML blasts and CN/AML iPSC-derived hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) without affecting healthy donor or CN iPSC-derived HSPCs. Beyond detailing a useful method for future investigation of stepwise leukemogenesis, this study suggests that targeting BAALC and/or MK2a phosphorylation may prevent leukemogenic transformation or eliminate AML blasts in CN/AML and RUNX1 mutant BAALC(hi) de novo AML. Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Citation

Benjamin Dannenmann, Maksim Klimiankou, Benedikt Oswald, Anna Solovyeva, Jehan Mardan, Masoud Nasri, Malte Ritter, Azadeh Zahabi, Patricia Arreba-Tutusaus, Perihan Mir, Frederic Stein, Siarhei Kandabarau, Nico Lachmann, Thomas Moritz, Tatsuya Morishima, Martina Konantz, Claudia Lengerke, Tim Ripperger, Doris Steinemann, Miriam Erlacher, Charlotte M Niemeyer, Cornelia Zeidler, Karl Welte, Julia Skokowa. iPSC modeling of stage-specific leukemogenesis reveals BAALC as a key oncogene in severe congenital neutropenia. Cell stem cell. 2021 May 06;28(5):906-922.e6

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PMID: 33894142

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