Source
Terry Fox Laboratory, British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
Transcriptional control of hematopoietic lineage fate relies on the integration of many intra- and extracellular signals. To test whether the microenvironment impacts on leukemic phenotype, we exploited the MN1 model of acute myeloid leukemia under defined genetically modified microenvironmental conditions.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
The requirement of both FLT3 and c-Kit signaling for MN1 leukemias was investigated using retroviral infection of bone marrow cells from wild-type, c-Kit-mutated (W41), and Flt3-ligand knockout cells, and bone marrow transplantation into wild-type, c-Kit-mutated, or Flt3-ligand knockout mice.
RESULTS:
Genetic disruption of both FLT3 and c-Kit signaling in the MN1-leukemia model was dispensable for MN1-induced leukemogenesis. However, it induced a switch from myeloid to erythroid phenotype that was preserved, when FLT3 signaling was restored by secondary transplantation of leukemic cells into wild-type recipients.
CONCLUSIONS:
Our findings underscore the importance of microenvironmental signals for lineage choice in leukemia and identify signals that are important in myeloid-erythroid lineage decisions.
Copyright 2010 ISEH - Society for Hematology and Stem Cells. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.