scholarly journals Disruption of a GATA2, TAL1, ERG regulatory circuit promotes erythroid transition in healthy and leukemic stem cells

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie A. I Thoms ◽  
Kathy Knezevic ◽  
Gregory Harvey ◽  
Yizhou Huang ◽  
Janith A. Seneviratne ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTChanges in gene regulation and expression govern orderly transitions from hematopoietic stem cells to terminally differentiated blood cell types. These transitions are disrupted during leukemic transformation but knowledge of the gene regulatory changes underpinning this process is elusive. We hypothesised that identifying core gene regulatory networks in healthy hematopoietic and leukemic cells could provide insights into network alterations that perturb cell state transitions. A heptad of transcription factors (LYL1, TAL1, LMO2, FLI1, ERG, GATA2, RUNX1) bind key hematopoietic genes in human CD34+ haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) and have prognostic significance in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). These factors also form a densely interconnected circuit by binding combinatorially at their own, and each other’s, regulatory elements. However, their mutual regulation during normal haematopoiesis and in AML cells, and how perturbation of their expression levels influences cell fate decisions remains unclear. Here, we integrated bulk and single cell data and found that the fully connected heptad circuit identified in healthy HSPCs persists with only minor alterations in AML, and that chromatin accessibility at key heptad regulatory elements was predictive of cell identity in both healthy progenitors and in leukemic cells. The heptad factors GATA2, TAL1 and ERG formed an integrated sub-circuit that regulates stem cell to erythroid transition in both healthy and leukemic cells. Components of this triad could be manipulated to facilitate erythroid transition providing a proof of concept that such regulatory circuits could be harnessed to promote specific cell type transitions and overcome dysregulated haematopoiesis.

Blood ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie A I Thoms ◽  
Peter Truong ◽  
Shruthi Subramanian ◽  
Kathy Knezevic ◽  
Gregory Harvey ◽  
...  

Changes in gene regulation and expression govern orderly transitions from hematopoietic stem cells to terminally differentiated blood cell types. These transitions are disrupted during leukemic transformation but knowledge of the gene regulatory changes underpinning this process is elusive. We hypothesised that identifying core gene regulatory networks in healthy hematopoietic and leukemic cells could provide insights into network alterations that perturb cell state transitions. A heptad of transcription factors (LYL1, TAL1, LMO2, FLI1, ERG, GATA2, RUNX1) bind key hematopoietic genes in human CD34+ haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) and have prognostic significance in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). These factors also form a densely interconnected circuit by binding combinatorially at their own, and each other's, regulatory elements. However, their mutual regulation during normal haematopoiesis and in AML cells, and how perturbation of their expression levels influences cell fate decisions remains unclear. Here, we integrated bulk and single cell data and found that the fully connected heptad circuit identified in healthy HSPCs persists with only minor alterations in AML, and that chromatin accessibility at key heptad regulatory elements was predictive of cell identity in both healthy progenitors and in leukemic cells. The heptad factors GATA2, TAL1 and ERG formed an integrated sub-circuit that regulates stem cell to erythroid transition in both healthy and leukemic cells. Components of this triad could be manipulated to facilitate erythroid transition providing a proof of concept that such regulatory circuits could be harnessed to promote specific cell type transitions and overcome dysregulated haematopoiesis.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 2407
Author(s):  
Ruicen He ◽  
Arthur Dantas ◽  
Karl Riabowol

Acetylation of histones is a key epigenetic modification involved in transcriptional regulation. The addition of acetyl groups to histone tails generally reduces histone-DNA interactions in the nucleosome leading to increased accessibility for transcription factors and core transcriptional machinery to bind their target sequences. There are approximately 30 histone acetyltransferases and their corresponding complexes, each of which affect the expression of a subset of genes. Because cell identity is determined by gene expression profile, it is unsurprising that the HATs responsible for inducing expression of these genes play a crucial role in determining cell fate. Here, we explore the role of HATs in the maintenance and differentiation of various stem cell types. Several HAT complexes have been characterized to play an important role in activating genes that allow stem cells to self-renew. Knockdown or loss of their activity leads to reduced expression and or differentiation while particular HATs drive differentiation towards specific cell fates. In this study we review functions of the HAT complexes active in pluripotent stem cells, hematopoietic stem cells, muscle satellite cells, mesenchymal stem cells, neural stem cells, and cancer stem cells.


Blood ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 118 (9) ◽  
pp. 2420-2429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Schaniel ◽  
Dario Sirabella ◽  
Jiajing Qiu ◽  
Xiaohong Niu ◽  
Ihor R. Lemischka ◽  
...  

Abstract The role of Wnt signaling in hematopoietic stem cell fate decisions remains controversial. We elected to dysregulate Wnt signaling from the perspective of the stem cell niche by expressing the pan Wnt inhibitor, Wnt inhibitory factor 1 (Wif1), specifically in osteoblasts. Here we report that osteoblastic Wif1 overexpression disrupts stem cell quiescence, leading to a loss of self-renewal potential. Primitive stem and progenitor populations were more proliferative and elevated in bone marrow and spleen, manifesting an impaired ability to maintain a self-renewing stem cell pool. Exhaustion of the stem cell pool was apparent only in the context of systemic stress by chemotherapy or transplantation of wild-type stem cells into irradiated Wif1 hosts. Paradoxically this is mediated, at least in part, by an autocrine induction of canonical Wnt signaling in stem cells on sequestration of Wnts in the environment. Additional signaling pathways are dysregulated in this model, primarily activated Sonic Hedgehog signaling in stem cells as a result of Wif1-induced osteoblastic expression of Sonic Hedgehog. We find that dysregulation of the stem cell niche by overexpression of an individual component impacts other unanticipated regulatory pathways in a combinatorial manner, ultimately disrupting niche mediated stem cell fate decisions.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aidan E Gilchrist ◽  
Julio F. Serrano ◽  
Mai T. Ngo ◽  
Zona Hrnjak ◽  
Sanha Kim ◽  
...  

Biomaterial platforms are an integral part of stem cell biomanufacturing protocols. The collective biophysical, biochemical, and cellular cues of the stem cell niche microenvironment play an important role in regulating stem cell fate decisions. Three-dimensional (3D) culture of stem cells within biomaterials provides a route to present biophysical and biochemical stimuli such as cell-matrix interactions and cell-cell interactions via secreted biomolecules. Herein, we describe a maleimide-functionalized gelatin (GelMAL) hydrogel that can be crosslinked via thiol-Michael addition click reaction for the encapsulation of sensitive stem cell populations. The maleimide functional units along the gelatin backbone enables gelation via the addition of a dithiol crosslinker without requiring external stimuli (e.g., UV light, photoinitiator), reducing reactive oxide species generation. Additionally, the versatility of crosslinker selection enables easy insertion of thiol-containing bioactive or bioinert motifs. Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were encapsulated in GelMAL, with mechanical properties tuned to mimic the in vivo bone marrow niche. We report insertion of a cleavable peptide crosslinker that can be degraded by the proteolytic action of SortaseA, a mammalian-inert enzyme. Notably, SortaseA exposure preserves stem cell surface markers, an essential metric of hematopoietic activity used in immunophenotyping. This novel GelMAL system enables a route to producing artificial stem cell niches with tunable biophysical properties with intrinsic cell-interaction motifs and orthogonal addition of bioactive crosslinks.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isamar Pastrana-Otero ◽  
Sayani Majumdar ◽  
Aidan E. Gilchrist ◽  
Brittney L. Gorman ◽  
Brendan A. C. Harley ◽  
...  

Biomaterial microarrays are being developed to facilitate identifying the extrinsic cues that elicit stem cell fate decisions to self-renew, differentiate and remain quiescent. Raman microspectroscopy, often combined with multivariate analysis techniques such as partial least square-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), could enable the non-invasive identification of stem cell fate decisions made in response to extrinsic cues presented at specific locations on these microarrays. Because existing biomaterial microarrays are not compatible with Raman microspectroscopy, here, we develop an inexpensive substrate that is compatible with both single-cell Raman spectroscopy and the chemistries that are often used for biomaterial microarray fabrication. Standard deposition techniques were used to fabricate a custom Raman-compatible substrate that supports microarray construction. We validated that spectra from living cells on functionalized polyacrylamide (PA) gels attached to the custom Raman-compatible substrate are comparable to spectra acquired from a more expensive commercially available substrate. We also showed that the spectra acquired from individual living cells on functionalized PA gels attached to our custom substrates were of sufficient quality to enable accurate identification of cell phenotypes using PLS-DA models of the cell spectra. We demonstrated this by using cells from laboratory lines (CHO and transfected CHO cells) as well as adult stem cells that were freshly isolated from mice (long-term and short-term hematopoietic stem cells). The custom Ramancompatible substrate reported herein may be used as an inexpensive substrate for constructing biomaterial microarrays that enable the use of Raman microspectroscopy to non-invasively identify the fate decisions of stem cells in response to extrinsic cues.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Candice Byers ◽  
Catrina Spruce ◽  
Haley J. Fortin ◽  
Anne Czechanski ◽  
Steven C. Munger ◽  
...  

AbstractGenetically diverse pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) display varied, heritable responses to differentiation cues in the culture environment. By harnessing these disparities through derivation of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) from the BXD mouse genetic reference panel, along with C57BL/6J (B6) and DBA/2J (D2) parental strains, we demonstrate genetically determined biases in lineage commitment and identify major regulators of the pluripotency epigenome. Upon transition to formative pluripotency using epiblast-like cells (EpiLCs), B6 quickly dissolves naïve networks adopting gene expression modules indicative of neuroectoderm lineages; whereas D2 retains aspects of naïve pluripotency with little bias in differentiation. Genetic mapping identifies 6 major trans-acting loci co-regulating chromatin accessibility and gene expression in ESCs and EpiLCs, indicating a common regulatory system impacting cell state transition. These loci distally modulate occupancy of pluripotency factors, including TRIM28, P300, and POU5F1, at hundreds of regulatory elements. One trans-acting locus on Chr 12 primarily impacts chromatin accessibility in ESCs; while in EpiLCs the same locus subsequently influences gene expression, suggesting early chromatin priming. Consequently, the distal gene targets of this locus are enriched for neurogenesis genes and were more highly expressed when cells carried B6 haplotypes at this Chr 12 locus, supporting genetic regulation of biases in cell fate. Spontaneous formation of embryoid bodies validated this with B6 showing a propensity towards neuroectoderm differentiation and D2 towards definitive endoderm, confirming the fundamental importance of genetic variation influencing cell fate decisions.


Blood ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 106 (11) ◽  
pp. 1349-1349
Author(s):  
Emmanuelle Passegue ◽  
Amy J. Wagers ◽  
Sylvie Giuriato ◽  
Wade C. Anderson ◽  
Irving L. Weissman

Abstract The blood is a perpetually renewing tissue seeded by a rare population of adult bone marrow hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). During steady-state hematopoiesis, the HSC population is relatively quiescent but constantly maintains a low numbers of cycling cells that differentiate to produce the various lineage of mature blood cells. However, in response to hematological stress, the entire HSC population can be recruited into cycle to self-renew and regenerate the blood-forming system. HSC proliferation is therefore highly adaptative and requires appropriate regulation of cell cycle progression to drive both differentiation-associated and self-renewal-associated proliferation, without depletion of the stem cell pool. Although the molecular events controlling HSC proliferation are still poorly understood, they are likely determined, at least in part, by regulated expression and/or function of components and regulators of the cell cycle machinery. Here, we demonstrate that the long-term self-renewing HSC (defined as Lin−/c-Kit+/Sca-1+/Thy1.1int/Flk2−) exists in two distinct states that are both equally important for their in vivo functions as stem cells: a numerically dominant quiescent state, which is critical for HSC function in hematopoietic reconstitution; and a proliferative state, which represents almost a fourth of this population and is essential for HSC functions in differentiation and self-renewal. We show that when HSC exit quiescence and enter G1 as a prelude to cell division, at least two critical events occur: first, during the G1 and subsequent S-G2/M phases, they temporarily lose efficient in vivo engraftment activity, while retaining in vitro differentiation potential; and second, they select the particular cell cycle proteins that are associated with specific developmental outcomes (self-renewal vs. differentiation) and developmental fates (myeloid vs. lymphoid). Together, these findings provide a direct link between HSC proliferation, cell cycle regulation and cell fate decisions that have critical implications for both the therapeutic use of HSC and the understanding of leukemic transformation.


Blood ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 104 (8) ◽  
pp. 2315-2322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne M. Vercauteren ◽  
Heather J. Sutherland

Abstract Notch transmembrane receptors are known to play a critical role in cell-fate decisions, with Notch1 shown to enhance self-renewal of hematopoietic stem cells and cause T-cell leukemia. Four Notch receptors exist, and the extent of redundancy and overlap in their function is unknown. Notch4 is structurally distinct from Notch1 through Notch3 and has not been extensively studied in hematopoiesis. By polymerase chain reaction (PCR) we find Notch4 transcript expression in human marrow cells and in both CD34+ and CD34– populations. When constitutively active Notch1 or Notch4 was overexpressed in normal human marrow or cord cells, we found reduced colony-forming and short-term proliferative ability while the primitive progenitor content of myeloid long-term cultures was significantly increased. Notch4–intracellular domain (Notch4-IC)–transduced cord cells transplanted into β2-microglobulin–/– nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient (NOD/SCID) mice resulted in significantly higher levels of engraftment of both green fluorescent protein–positive (GFP+) and GFP– populations as compared with controls. GFP+ cells in bone marrow and spleen of animals that had received transplants gave rise to an immature CD4+CD8+ T-cell population, whereas B-cell development was blocked. These results indicate that activation of Notch4 results in enhanced stem cell activity, reduced differentiation, and altered lymphoid development, suggesting it may influence both stem cells and the fate of the common lymphoid progenitor.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isamar Pastrana-Otero ◽  
Sayani Majumdar ◽  
Aidan E. Gilchrist ◽  
Brittney L. Gorman ◽  
Brendan A. C. Harley ◽  
...  

Biomaterial microarrays are being developed to facilitate identifying the extrinsic cues that elicit stem cell fate decisions to self-renew, differentiate and remain quiescent. Raman microspectroscopy, often combined with multivariate analysis techniques such as partial least square-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), could enable the non-invasive identification of stem cell fate decisions made in response to extrinsic cues presented at specific locations on these microarrays. Because existing biomaterial microarrays are not compatible with Raman microspectroscopy, here, we develop an inexpensive substrate that is compatible with both single-cell Raman spectroscopy and the chemistries that are often used for biomaterial microarray fabrication. Standard deposition techniques were used to fabricate a custom Raman-compatible substrate that supports microarray construction. We validated that spectra from living cells on functionalized polyacrylamide (PA) gels attached to the custom Raman-compatible substrate are comparable to spectra acquired from a more expensive commercially available substrate. We also showed that the spectra acquired from individual living cells on functionalized PA gels attached to our custom substrates were of sufficient quality to enable accurate identification of cell phenotypes using PLS-DA models of the cell spectra. We demonstrated this by using cells from laboratory lines (CHO and transfected CHO cells) as well as adult stem cells that were freshly isolated from mice (long-term and short-term hematopoietic stem cells). The custom Ramancompatible substrate reported herein may be used as an inexpensive substrate for constructing biomaterial microarrays that enable the use of Raman microspectroscopy to non-invasively identify the fate decisions of stem cells in response to extrinsic cues.


Cells ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Kosan ◽  
Florian Heidel ◽  
Maren Godmann ◽  
Holger Bierhoff

In complex organisms, stem cells are key for tissue maintenance and regeneration. Adult stem cells replenish continuously dividing tissues of the epithelial and connective types, whereas in non-growing muscle and nervous tissues, they are mainly activated upon injury or stress. In addition to replacing deteriorated cells, adult stem cells have to prevent their exhaustion by self-renewal. There is mounting evidence that both differentiation and self-renewal are impaired upon aging, leading to tissue degeneration and functional decline. Understanding the molecular pathways that become deregulate in old stem cells is crucial to counteract aging-associated tissue impairment. In this review, we focus on the epigenetic mechanisms governing the transition between quiescent and active states, as well as the decision between self-renewal and differentiation in three different stem cell types, i.e., spermatogonial stem cells, hematopoietic stem cells, and muscle stem cells. We discuss the epigenetic events that channel stem cell fate decisions, how this epigenetic regulation is altered with age, and how this can lead to tissue dysfunction and disease. Finally, we provide short prospects of strategies to preserve stem cell function and thus promote healthy aging.


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