Browsing by Subject "MPN"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Driver Mutations in Leukemia Promote Disease Pathogenesis through a Combination of Cell-Autonomous and Niche Modulation
    (Elsevier, 2020-07-14) Ramdas, Baskar; Mali, Raghuveer Singh; Palam, Lakshmi Reddy; Pandey, Ruchi; Cai, Zhigang; Pasupuleti, Santhosh Kumar; Burns, Sarah S.; Kapur, Reuben; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Studies of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have led to the identification of mutations that affect different cellular pathways. Some of these have been classified as preleukemic, and a stepwise evolution program whereby cells acquire additional mutations has been proposed in the development of AML. How the timing of acquisition of these mutations and their impact on transformation and the bone marrow (BM) microenvironment occurs has only recently begun to be investigated. We show that constitutive and early loss of the epigenetic regulator, TET2, when combined with constitutive activation of FLT3, results in transformation of chronic myelomonocytic leukemia-like or myeloproliferative neoplasm-like phenotype to AML, which is more pronounced in double-mutant mice relative to mice carrying mutations in single genes. Furthermore, we show that in preleukemic and leukemic mice there are alterations in the BM niche and secreted cytokines, which creates a permissive environment for the growth of mutation-bearing cells relative to normal cells.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Hematopoietic-restricted Ptpn11E76K reveals indolent MPN progression in mice
    (Impact Journals, 2018-04-24) Tarnawsky, Stefan P.; Yu, Wen-Mei; Qu, Cheng-Kui; Chan, Rebecca J.; Yoder, Mervin C.; Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine
    Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia (JMML) is a pediatric myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) that has a poor prognosis. Somatic mutations in Ptpn11 are the most frequent cause of JMML and they commonly occur in utero. Animal models of mutant Ptpn11 have probed the signaling pathways that contribute to JMML. However, existing models may inappropriately exacerbate MPN features by relying on non-hematopoietic-restricted Cre-loxP strains or transplantations into irradiated recipients. In this study we generate hematopoietic-restricted models of Ptpn11E76K-mediated disease using Csf1r-MCM and Flt3Cre. We show that these animals have indolent MPN progression despite robust GM-CSF hypersensitivity and Ras-Erk hyperactivation. Rather, the dominant pathology is pronounced thrombocytopenia with expanded extramedullary hematopoiesis. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the timing of tamoxifen administration in Csf1r-MCM mice can specifically induce recombinase activity in either fetal or adult hematopoietic progenitors. We take advantage of this technique to show more rapid monocytosis following Ptpn11E76K expression in fetal progenitors compared with adult progenitors. Finally, we demonstrate that Ptpn11E76K results in the progressive reduction of T cells, most notably of CD4+ and naïve T cells. This corresponds to an increased frequency of T cell progenitors in the thymus and may help explain the occasional emergence of T-cell leukemias in JMML patients. Overall, our study is the first to describe the consequences of hematopoietic-restricted Ptpn11E76K expression in the absence of irradiation. Our techniques can be readily adapted by other researchers studying somatically-acquired blood disorders.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The origin of Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia : Insights from developmental hematopoiesis
    (2017-06) Tarnawsky, Stefan Pasichnyk; Yoder, Mervin C.; Chan, Rebecca J.
    Hematopoiesis proceeds through three developmental phases, each with a unique and indispensable function. The individual roles of these phases in the pathogenesis of blood disorders is unknown. We have adapted murine lineage trace models to identify the relative contributions of embryonic, fetal, and adult hematopoietic phases to the origin of Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia. We hypothesized that the fetal phase would have the most pronounced contribution to the development of JMML, a pediatric myeloproliferative disorder whose disease-initiating somatic mutations occur in utero. Progenitors expressing PTPN11E76K from all three waves were growth hypersensitive to GM-CSF due to hyperactive RAS-ERK signaling. However, fulminant myeloproliferation was only seen in fetal and adult cohorts. We observed equal disease severity in FLT3Cre; PTPN11E76K; ROSA26mTmG and CSF1R-MCM; PTPN11E76K; ROSA26YFP cohorts, which had high and low mutant allele frequencies, respectively. This led to the revelation that all progenitors in the BM niche of mutant animals have equal growth hypersensitivity and RAS-ERK hyperactivation due to non-cell autonomous effects of PTPN11E76K. We further identified that FLT3Cre has hematopoietic-restricted expression, and thereby circumvented morbidity from PTPN11E76K expression in endothelial and stromal cells. This led us to hypothesize that FLT3Cre; KrasG12D; ROSA26mTmG would be the first faithful model of JMML to express this disease-initiating mutation. Indeed, FLT3Cre; KrasG12D mice were born at expected Mendelian ratio and showed normal weight gain to 2 weeks of age. Thereafter, they acquired defining features of JMML including monocytosis, anaemia, thrombocytopenia, and hepatosplenomegaly. All FLT3Cre; KrasG12D mice succumb to a JMML-like disease, which was propagated following transplantation. This is in contrast with CSF1R-MCM; KrasG12D; ROSA26YFP mice, in which low mutant allele frequencies in either fetal or adult HSCs uniformly resulted in T-ALL. Our models reveal previously underappreciated features of JMML including an expansion of dendritic cells and a pronounced defect in T-lymphocyte development. We are the first to demonstrate non-cell autonomous effects of hematopoietic-restricted PTPN11E76K expression. Most importantly, we have shown that both the spatial and the temporal origin of JMML-initiating mutations will affect disease manifestations. Each of our findings suggest novel strategies to treat this intractable disease.