Role of a Novel Homeobox Transcription Factor (HLX) in Acute Myeloid Leukemia

描述(由申请人提供)：尽管多种化疗的使用和优化已经确立，新的药物也在开发，可以暂时减轻肿瘤负担，但复发仍然是急性髓系白血病(AML)最常见的死亡原因。只有不到三分之一的AML患者通过目前的治疗方案获得持久缓解，预测和风险分层仍然具有挑战性。需要确定新的靶点，以便进行更有效和个性化的治疗干预。我们最近报道，在小鼠AML模型中的白血病干细胞和绝大多数(87%)AML患者(包括分选的干细胞)中，非聚集同源框基因HLX过度表达，并且HLX水平较高与AML患者的总体存活率较低独立相关。功能研究表明，HLX过表达可导致分化受阻的异常祖细胞的形成和无限的连续克隆形成，并且HLX基因敲除对AML细胞在体内外的生长均有抑制作用。然而，HLX的作用机制、其下游途径以及它在白血病启动和维持中的作用尚不清楚。根据我们的发现和初步数据，我们假设HLX过度表达是AML发病机制的早期步骤，HLX与其他常见疾病等位基因，包括Flt3-ITD和Cbfb-MYH11协同作用，并通过特定的HLX依赖途径，包括PAK1和BTG1。我们进一步假设，HLX直接转录调控AML的靶基因，靶向HLX或功能关键的下游通路是抑制AML的合适的新方法。我们的具体研究目标是：1)研究HLX过表达在AML发病中的作用，包括HLX过表达与其他疾病等位基因协同作用的能力；2)研究HLX过表达对AML体内维持的影响；3)寻找HLX在AML中功能相关的直接转录靶点。我们将利用逆转录病毒共表达/移植试验，以及新开发的条件性HLX敲打小鼠模型，研究HLX过表达与辅因子Flt3ITD和Cbfb-MYH11协同作用导致的白血病转化。我们将研究HLX抑制在原代人类AML细胞和AML遗传小鼠模型中的抗白血病作用，并确定介导HLX下调抑制白血病作用的关键功能通路。我们将研究HLX是否直接调控候选下游基因PAK1和BTG1的转录。此外，我们将通过CHIP-SEQ确定全基因组范围的HLX-染色质相互作用，并识别新的HLX调节的靶点，并测试AML的功能相关性。综上所述，基于我们的初步发现，本研究将探讨HLX在AML发病机制中的作用，以及如何利用HLX下调来抑制白血病。这项研究的结果将增进我们对AML致病机制的了解，并将HLX及其下游通路确定为AML治疗的新靶点。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Despite the established use and optimization of polychemotherapy and the development of new agents that transiently reduce the tumor burden, relapse continues to be the most common cause of death in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Less than one third of patients with AML achieve durable remission with current treatment regimens, and prognostication and risk stratification remain challenging. New targets need to be identified for more effective and individualized therapeutic intervention. We have recently reported that a non- clustered homeobox gene, HLX, is overexpressed in leukemic stem cells in a mouse AML model and in the vast majority (87%) of AML patients, including in sorted stem cells, and that higher HLX levels are independently associated with poor overall survival of AML patients. Functional studies showed that HLX overexpression leads to the formation of aberrant progenitors with blocked differentiation and unlimited serial clonogenicity, and that HLX knockdown has an inhibitory effect on AML cell growth in vitro and in vivo. However, the mechanism of action of HLX, its downstream pathways, and its role in leukemia initiation and maintenance are unknown. Based on our findings and preliminary data we hypothesize that HLX overexpression is an early step in AML pathogenesis and that HLX acts in concert with other common disease alleles, including FLT3-ITD and CBFB-MYH11, and through specific HLX-dependent pathways, including PAK1 and BTG1. We further hypothesize that HLX directly transcriptionally regulates target genes in AML, and that targeting HLX or functionally critical downstream pathways is a suitable, novel approach for the inhibition of AML. Our specific research aims are: 1) To study the role of HLX overexpression in the initiation of AML, including the ability of HLX overexpression to cooperate with other disease alleles; 2) To investigate the effect of reducing HLX expression on AML maintenance in vivo; 3) To identify functionally relevant, direct transcriptional targets of HLX in AML. We will study leukemic transformation by HLX overexpression in concert with cofactors, including FLT3ITD and CBFB-MYH11, using retroviral co-expression/transplantation assays, as well as a newly developed conditional Hlx knockin mouse model. We will study the anti-leukemic effects of HLX inhibition in primary human AML cells and a genetic mouse model of AML, and identify functionally critical pathways which mediate the leukemia-inhibitory effect of HLX downregulation. We will study whether HLX directly regulates transcription of candidate downstream genes PAK1 and BTG1. In addition, we will determine genome-wide HLX-chromatin interactions by ChIP-seq, and identify new HLX-regulated targets and test for functional relevance in AML. In summary, based on our initial discovery this study will investigate the function of HLX in AML pathogenesis, and how HLX downregulation can be utilized to inhibit leukemia. The results of this study will enhance our knowledge of disease-causing mechanisms in AML, and define HLX and its downstream pathways as novel targets for therapy in AML.