Leukemia-associated ZMYND11-MBTD1 chimera induces leukemogenesis by hijacking TIP60 acetyltransferase and a PWWP-mediated chromatin association mechanism (RNA-seq)

The recurring t(10;17)(p15;q21) chromosomal translocation as detected in a subset of human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients produces an aberrant fusion gene ZMYND11-MBTD1 (ZM), the biological consequence of which, however, remains elusive. Here we show that ZM chimera confers primary murine hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) an indefinite self-renewal capability ex vivo and causes AML in vivo. Genomics analyses revealed that ZM directly binds to and maintains high expression of pro-leukemic transcription factor (TF) genes such as Hox, Meis1, Myc, Myb, and Sox4. Mechanistically, ZM interacts with and recruits the Tip60 acetyltransferase complex, both of which occupy promoter-proximal genomic regions that are enriched with histone acetylation and devoid of H3K27me3. Furthermore, systematic mutagenesis of ZM revealed an essential requirement of Tip60 association and an H3K36me3-binding PWWP domain for leukemic transformation and proto-oncogene activation. Finally, inhibitor of histone acetylation-'reading' bromodomain proteins is efficacious in treating ZM-induced AML. Collectively, this study demonstrated the AML-causing effect of ZM chimera with relevant animal models, examined into its gene-regulatory functions and protein interactome, and reports a promising mechanism-based therapeutic strategy. Overall design: Transcriptome profiling of murine HSPC culture 2-weeks post-transduction of ZMYND11-MBTD1 (ZM; short-term culture), as well as the established murine AML cells that were stably transformed (cultured for >6-8 weeks) by either ZM (long-term culture), Hoxa9 plus Meis1a (A9M) or MLL-AF9; Transcriptome profiling of the empty vector (EV)-transduced murine HSPC culture was performed 2 weeks post-transduction.