A Multiplex CRISPR-Screen Identifies PLA2G4A as Prognostic Marker and Druggable Target for HOXA9 and MEIS1 Dependent AML.

and are frequently upregulated in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), including those with MLL-rearrangement. Because of their pivotal role in hemostasis, HOXA9 and MEIS1 appear non-druggable. We, thus, interrogated gene expression data of pre-leukemic (overexpressing ) and leukemogenic (overexpressing and ; H9M) murine cell lines to identify cancer vulnerabilities.

Myeloid-Derived Growth Factor Protects Against Pressure Overload-Induced Heart Failure by Preserving Sarco/Endoplasmic Reticulum Ca-ATPase Expression in Cardiomyocytes.

Background: Inflammation contributes to the pathogenesis of heart failure, but there is limited understanding of inflammation's potential benefits. Inflammatory cells secrete MYDGF (myeloid-derived growth factor) to promote tissue repair after acute myocardial infarction. We hypothesized that MYDGF has a role in cardiac adaptation to persistent pressure overload.

Novel Sequence Types of of Different Origin Obtained in the Republic of Serbia.

, the causative agent of listeriosis, is amongst the major food-borne pathogens in the world that affect mammal species, including humans. This microorganism has been associated with both sporadic episodes and large outbreaks of human listeriosis worldwide, with high mortality rates. In this study, the main sequence types (STs) and clonal complexes (CCs) were investigated in all of the 13 strains originating from different sources in the Republic of Serbia in 2004-2019 and that were available in the BIGSdb-Lm database.

Conditionally immortalised leukaemia initiating cells co-expressing Hoxa9/Meis1 demonstrate microenvironmental adaptation properties ex vivo while maintaining myelomonocytic memory.

Regulation of haematopoietic stem cell fate through conditional gene expression could improve understanding of healthy haematopoietic and leukaemia initiating cell (LIC) biology. We established conditionally immortalised myeloid progenitor cell lines co-expressing constitutive Hoxa9.EGFP and inducible Meis1.

EVI1 phosphorylation at S436 regulates interactions with CtBP1 and DNMT3A and promotes self-renewal.

The transcriptional regulator EVI1 has an essential role in early development and haematopoiesis. However, acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) driven by aberrantly high EVI1 expression has very poor prognosis. To investigate the effects of post-translational modifications on EVI1 function, we carried out a mass spectrometry (MS) analysis of EVI1 in AML and detected dynamic phosphorylation at serine 436 (S436).

Multiple Genes Surrounding , a Common Retroviral Insertion Site, Can Influence Hematopoiesis Individually or in Concert.

Retroviral insertional mutagenesis (RIM) is both a relevant risk in gene therapy and a powerful tool for identifying genes that enhance the competitiveness of repopulating hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). However, focusing only on the gene closest to the retroviral vector insertion site (RVIS) may underestimate the effects of RIM, as dysregulation of distal and/or multiple genes by a single insertion event was reported in several studies. As a proof of concept, we examined the common insertion site (CIS) , which revealed seven genes located within ±150 kb from the RVIS for our study.

Conditional Immortalization of Lymphoid Progenitors via Tetracycline-Regulated Expression.

Conditional immortalization of hematopoietic progenitors through lentiviral expression of selected transcription factors in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells provides a promising tool to study stem cell and leukemia biology. In this study, to generate conditionally immortalized lymphoid progenitor (ciLP) cell lines, murine hematopoietic progenitor cells were transduced with an inducible lentiviral "all-in-one" vector expressing under doxycycline (DOX) stimulation and the reverse tetracycline-regulated transactivator (. For selection of -expressing ciLPs (-ciLPs) and longitudinal manipulation in T cell differentiation lymphoid conditions, we developed a robust approach based on coculture with OP9-DL1 stromal cells and improved cytokine conditions allowing a controlled balance between cell proliferation and differentiation .

EVI1 carboxy-terminal phosphorylation is ATM-mediated and sustains transcriptional modulation and self-renewal via enhanced CtBP1 association.

The transcriptional regulator EVI1 has an essential role in early hematopoiesis and development. However, aberrantly high expression of EVI1 has potent oncogenic properties and confers poor prognosis and chemo-resistance in leukemia and solid tumors. To investigate to what extent EVI1 function might be regulated by post-translational modifications we carried out mass spectrometry- and antibody-based analyses and uncovered an ATM-mediated double phosphorylation of EVI1 at the carboxy-terminal S858/S860 SQS motif.

Multimodal Lentiviral Vectors for Pharmacologically Controlled Switching Between Constitutive Single Gene Expression and Tetracycline-Regulated Multiple Gene Collaboration.

Multimodal lentiviral vectors (LVs) allow switching between constitutive and tetracycline-regulated gene co-expressions in genetically modified cells. Transduction of murine primary hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) with multimodal LVs in the absence of doxycycline ensures the constitutive expression of gene of interest 1 (GOI1) only. In the presence of doxycycline, induced tetracycline-regulated expression of a second GOI (GOI2) allows evaluation of the collaboration between two genes.

Comparison of Tetracycline-regulated Promoters in Lentiviral-based Vectors in Murine Transplantation Studies.

Tetracycline-regulated systems with efficient temporal and dose regulation of transgene expression are useful for development of new physiologic/pathophysiologic experimental models and gene therapy approaches. Lentiviral vectors with improved tetracycline-regulated promoters help to overcome the existing limitations such as basal activity in the drug absence, poor inducibility or unstable transgene expression. To compare conventional and improved tetracycline-regulated promoters in lentiviral based vectors in vivo, we investigated doxycycline-regulated gene transfer/expression levels in a long-term murine transplantation model and demonstrated that the lentiviral vector with the improved T11 promoter exhibited more efficient inducibility and higher gene transfer level.

Transduction of Murine Hematopoietic Stem Cells with Tetracycline-regulated Lentiviral Vectors.

Tetracycline-regulated integrating vectors allow pharmacologically controlled genetic modification of murine and human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). This approach combines the stable transgene insertion into a host genome with the opportunity for time- and dose-controlled reversible transgene expression in HSCs. Here, we describe the step-by-step protocol for transduction of murine stem-cell enriched populations of bone marrow cells, such as lineage negative cells (Lin(-)), with a lentiviral vector expressing the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) under the control of the tetracycline-regulated promoter.

Lentiviral vector system for coordinated constitutive and drug controlled tetracycline-regulated gene co-expression.

Constitutive co-expression of cooperating transgenes using retroviral integrating vectors is frequently used for genetic modification of different cell types to establish therapeutic or cancer models. However, such approaches are unable to dissect the influence of dose, order and reversibility of transgene expression on the fate of newly developed therapeutic/malignant phenotypes. We present a modular lentiviral vector system, which provides expression of constitutive and inducible components.

Dose response and clonal variability of lentiviral tetracycline-regulated vectors in murine hematopoietic cells.

Tetracycline-regulated integrating vectors allow pharmacologically controlled genetic modification of murine and human hematopoietic stem cells and provide the opportunity for time- and dose-controlled reversible transgene expression in hematopoietic stem cells in vitro and in vivo. However, the background activity of tetracycline-regulated promoters (tetPs) in the absence of induction or vector integration in the vicinity of proto-oncogenes can diminish the advantages of the system. Here we investigated the effect of lentiviral transduction rate on tetP background activity, vector copy number (VCN), and clonal variability as a consequence of vector integration.

Pharmacological targeting of the thrombomodulin-activated protein C pathway mitigates radiation toxicity.

Tissue damage induced by ionizing radiation in the hematopoietic and gastrointestinal systems is the major cause of lethality in radiological emergency scenarios and underlies some deleterious side effects in patients undergoing radiation therapy. The identification of target-specific interventions that confer radiomitigating activity is an unmet challenge. Here we identify the thrombomodulin (Thbd)-activated protein C (aPC) pathway as a new mechanism for the mitigation of total body irradiation (TBI)-induced mortality.

Polyclonal fluctuation of lentiviral vector-transduced and expanded murine hematopoietic stem cells.

Gene therapy has proven its potential to cure diseases of the hematopoietic system. However, severe adverse events observed in clinical trials have demanded improved gene-transfer conditions. Whereas progress has been made to reduce the genotoxicity of integrating gene vectors, the role of pretransplantation cultivation is less well investigated.

The genomic risk of somatic gene therapy.

Gene vectors with an untargeted insertion profile have been explored in preclinical models and clinical trials for the transfer of potentially therapeutic genetic information into somatic cells that have a high replicative potential. The gene-modified cell population can be viewed as a genetic mosaic whose complexity depends upon the target cell type, the number of transduced cells, the average number of insertions per cell, the genetic stability and composition of the transgene, and the integration pattern of the vector. Selection by the environment encountered in the patient may support the preferential survival of clones with insertional deregulation of genes that are involved in the control of engraftment, proliferation or differentiation, in the worst case initiating oncogenic progression.

Cell-intrinsic and vector-related properties cooperate to determine the incidence and consequences of insertional mutagenesis.

In gene therapeutic approaches targeting hematopoietic cells, insertional mutagenesis may provoke clonal dominance with potential progress to overt leukemia. To investigate the contribution of cell-intrinsic features and determine the frequency of insertional proto-oncogene activation, we sorted hematopoietic subpopulations before transduction with replication-deficient gamma-retroviral vectors and studied the clonal repertoire in transplanted C57BL/6J mice. Progressive clonal dominance only developed in the progeny of populations with intrinsic stem cell potential, where expanding clones with insertional upregulation of proto-oncogenes such as Evi1 were retrieved with a frequency of approximately 10(-4).

Retroviral insertion site analysis in dominant haematopoietic clones.

Identification of retroviral vector insertion sites in single, dominating cell clones has become an important tool for the investigation of cellular signalling pathways involved in clonal expansion and malignant transformation. Also, recent severe adverse events in clinical trials resulting from retroviral vector-mediated insertional mutagenesis underline the need of well-designed safety studies including integration site analyses to estimate cost/benefit ratios in gene therapy. We have recently described a modified ligation-mediated PCR (LM PCR) method allowing preferential retrieval of insertion sites causally linked to clonal dominance of an affected clone.

Retroviral integration site analysis in hematopoietic stem cells.

Stable transgene insertion into a host genome irrevocably and unambiguously marks individual cells and all their descendants, i.e., the respective cell clone.

Insertional mutagenesis by replication-deficient retroviral vectors encoding the large T oncogene.

Insertion sites of replication-deficient retroviral vectors may trigger clonal dominance of hematopoietic cells in vivo. Here, we tested whether this would also be the case when using vectors that express powerful oncogenes, such as the large tumor antigen (TAg) of simian virus 40. TAg inactivates the tumor-suppressor proteins p53 and Rb by virtue of a chaperone-like activity.

Retroviral vector insertion sites associated with dominant hematopoietic clones mark "stemness" pathways.

Evidence from model organisms and clinical trials reveals that the random insertion of retrovirus-based vectors in the genome of long-term repopulating hematopoietic cells may increase self-renewal or initiate malignant transformation. Clonal dominance of nonmalignant cells is a particularly interesting phenotype as it may be caused by the dysregulation of genes that affect self-renewal and competitive fitness. We have accumulated 280 retrovirus vector insertion sites (RVISs) from murine long-term studies resulting in benign or malignant clonal dominance.

Mutagenesis and oncogenesis by chromosomal insertion of gene transfer vectors.

Increasing evidence reveals that random insertion of gene transfer vectors into the genome of repopulating hematopoietic cells may alter their fate in vivo. Although most insertional mutations are expected to have few if any consequences for cellular survival, clonal dominance caused by retroviral vector insertions in (or in the vicinity of) proto-oncogenes or other signaling genes has been described for both normal and malignant hematopoiesis. Important insights into these side effects were initially obtained in murine models.