BioProject

Quiescent hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are prone to mutagenesis, and accumulation of mutations can result in hematological malignancies. More...

Quiescent hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are prone to mutagenesis, and accumulation of mutations can result in hematological malignancies. The mechanisms through which HSCs prevent such detrimental accumulation, however, are unclear. Here, we show that Aspp1 coordinates with p53 to maintain the genomic integrity of the HSC pool. Aspp1 is preferentially expressed in HSCs and restricts HSC pool size by attenuating self-renewal under steady state conditions. After genotoxic stress, Aspp1 promotes HSC cycling and induces p53-dependent apoptosis in cells with persistent DNA damage foci. Beyond these p53-dependent functions, Aspp1 attenuates HSC self-renewal and accumulation of DNA damage in p53-null HSCs. Consequently, concomitant loss of Aspp1 and p53 leads to the development of hematological malignancies, especially T-cell leukemia and lymphoma. Together, these data highlights coordination between Aspp1 and p53 in regulating HSC self-renewal and DNA damage tolerance, and suggest that HSCs possess specific mechanisms that prevent accumulation of mutations and malignant transformation. Overall design: 8-week-old WT, Aspp1-/-, Mx1-Cre(+)p53flox/flox and Mx1-Cre(+)Aspp1-/-p53flox/flox mice were intraperitoneally administered with 400 μg pIpC five times every other day to obtain WT, Aspp1-/-, p53-/- and Aspp1-/-p53-/- bone marrow. 4 weeks after pIpC treatment, bone marrow lineage(-) Sca-1(+) cKit(+) cells were isolated. RNA was extracted and pooled from 3 independent mice per genotype. RNA samples were then amplified, labeled, and hybridized to independent arrays. Less...