Browsing by Author "Chen, Lili"

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    Mutated Ptpn11 alters leukemic stem cell frequency and reduces the sensitivity of acute myeloid leukemia cells to Mcl1 inhibition
    (Nature Publishing Group, 2015-06) Chen, Lili; Chen, Wei; Mysliwski, Maria; Serio, Justin; Ropa, James; Abulwerdi, Fardokht A.; Chan, Rebecca J.; Patel, Jay P.; Tallman, Martin S.; Paietta, Elisabeth; Melnick, Ari; Levine, Ross L.; Abdel-Wahab, Omar; Nikolovska-Coleska, Zaneta; Muntean, Andrew G.; Department of Pediatrics, IU School of Medicine
    PTPN11 encodes the Shp2 non-receptor protein-tyrosine phosphatase implicated in several signaling pathways. Activating mutations in Shp2 are commonly associated with juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia but are not as well defined in other neoplasms. Here we report that Shp2 mutations occur in human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) at a rate of 6.6% (6/91) in the ECOG E1900 data set. We examined the role of mutated Shp2 in leukemias harboring MLL translocations, which co-occur in human AML. The hyperactive Shp2E76K mutant, commonly observed in leukemia patients, significantly accelerated MLL-AF9-mediated leukemogenesis in vivo. Shp2E76K increased leukemic stem cell frequency and affords MLL-AF9 leukemic cells IL3 cytokine hypersensitivity. As Shp2 is reported to regulate anti-apoptotic genes, we investigated Bcl2, Bcl-xL and Mcl1 expression in MLL-AF9 leukemic cells with and without Shp2E76K. Although the Bcl2 family of genes was upregulated in Shp2E76K cells, Mcl1 showed the highest upregulation in MLL-AF9 cells in response to Shp2E76K. Indeed, expression of Mcl1 in MLL-AF9 cells phenocopies expression of Shp2E76K, suggesting Shp2 mutations cooperate through activation of anti-apoptotic genes. Finally, we show Shp2E76K mutations reduce sensitivity of AML cells to small-molecule-mediated Mcl1 inhibition, suggesting reduced efficacy of drugs targeting MCL1 in patients with hyperactive Shp2.
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    The ENL YEATS epigenetic reader domain critically links MLL-ENL to leukemic stem cell frequency in t(11;19) Leukemia
    (Springer Nature, 2023) Hu, Hsiangyu; Saha, Nirmalya; Yang, Yuting; Ahmad, Ejaz; Lachowski, Lauren; Shrestha, Uttar; Premkumar, Vidhya; Ropa, James; Chen, Lili; Teahan, Blaine; Grigsby, Sierrah; Marschalek, Rolf; Nikolovska-Coleska, Zaneta; Muntean, Andrew G.; Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine
    MLL (KMT2a) translocations are found in ~10% of acute leukemia patients, giving rise to oncogenic MLL-fusion proteins. A common MLL translocation partner is ENL and associated with a poor prognosis in t(11;19) patients. ENL contains a highly conserved N-terminal YEATS domain that binds acetylated histones and interacts with the PAF1c, an epigenetic regulator protein complex essential for MLL-fusion leukemogenesis. Recently, wild-type ENL, and specifically the YEATS domain, was shown to be essential for leukemic cell growth. However, the inclusion and importance of the YEATS domain in MLL-ENL-mediated leukemogenesis remains unexplored. We found the YEATS domain is retained in 84.1% of MLL-ENL patients and crucial for MLL-ENL-mediated leukemogenesis in mouse models. Mechanistically, deletion of the YEATS domain impaired MLL-ENL fusion protein binding and decreased expression of pro-leukemic genes like Eya1 and Meis1. Point mutations that disrupt YEATS domain binding to acetylated histones decreased stem cell frequency and increased MLL-ENL-mediated leukemia latency. Therapeutically, YEATS containing MLL-ENL leukemic cells display increased sensitivity to the YEATS inhibitor SGC-iMLLT compared to control AML cells. Our results demonstrate that the YEATS domain is important for MLL-ENL fusion protein-mediated leukemogenesis and exposes an "Achilles heel" that may be therapeutically targeted for treating t(11;19) patients.