Tracking the molecular pathway to mixed-lineage leukemia

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Dec. 15, 2008) — Infants and adults with the blood cancer mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL) typically have a poor prognosis, and most infants die before their first birthdays. Although there are varying causes of MLL, most cases are caused by a fusion of two genes, the MLL and the AF4 genes.  

When the MLL gene is fused to the AF4 gene, a potent cancer-causing oncogene is created. Although researchers have known that the MLL-AF4 protein produced by this genetic fusion causes leukemia, they had not been able to determine precisely how this oncogene disrupted cells’ normal protein production. 

To pinpoint the oncogene’s activities, Matthew Guenther, a postdoctoral researcher in Whitehead Member Richard Young’s lab, used a technique called ChIP-seq (chromatin immunoprecipitation with DNA sequencing) to map where the MLL-AF4 protein interacts with a cell’s genome. He found that in cancer cells the MLL-AF4 protein binds to at least 226 genes, many of which are overexpressed in leukemia cells and encode hematopoietic stem cell regulators (the genes that initiate blood cell production).

It seems that when the MLL-AF4 protein interacts with these genes, it forces them into a hyperactive state, with disastrous consequences.

“The MLL-AF4 fusion protein is somehow targeted to a set of genes that essentially hijacks the blood stem cell machinery and makes that cell become cancerous, basically a younger-looking cell that is dividing much more than it should,” says Guenther.

Looking closer at the MLL-AF4 protein-bound genes, Guenther noticed that these genes display strange patterns of chromatin proteins. In the cell, DNA is wrapped around chromatin proteins for dual purposes: to safely package DNA for cell division and to control gene expression (epigenetics). Changes in chromatin structures can affect normal gene expression, and other studies have linked chromatin misregulation to cancer and to leukemia disease progression. In MLL patients, it seems the MLL-AF4 protein alters the normal chromatin state of the hematopoietic stem cell regulators.

Guenther’s findings may take scientists one step closer to a treatment for this deadly disease.

Written by Nicole Giese.

* * * 

Richard Young’s primary affiliation is with Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, where his laboratory is located and all his research is conducted. He is also a professor of biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

* * *

Full Citation:

Genes and Development, December 15, 2008.

“Aberrant Chromatin at Genes Encoding Stem Cell Regulators in Human Mixed-lineage Leukemia”

Matthew G. Guenther (1), Lee N. Lawton (1), Tatiana Rozovskaia (2), Garrett M. Frampton (1), Stuart S. Levine (1), Thomas L. Volkert (1), Carlo M. Croce (3), Tatsuya Nakamura (3), Eli Canaani (2) and Richard A. Young (1, 4)

1. Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, 9 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA
2. Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 76100, ISRAEL
3. Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics and Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA
4. Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA

Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research is a nonprofit, independent research and educational institution. Wholly independent in its governance, finances and research programs, Whitehead shares a close affiliation with Massachusetts Institute of Technology through its faculty, who hold joint MIT appointments.

Whitehead Member Richard Young

Photo: John Soares/Whitehead

RELATED LINKS

Cells take risks with their identities

Cracking open the black box of autoimmune disease

Young lab