Expression changes in lymphoid cells on excision of Runx1

The Runx genes function as dominant oncogenes that collaborate potently with Myc or loss of p53 to induce lymphoma when over-expressed. Here we examined the gene changes in an Eµ-Myc model of Burkitt’s lymphoma on deletion of Runx1, and found a gene signature that was associated with lymphoid proliferation, survival and differentiation. We treated triplicate Mx1Cre+/EµMyc+/p53+/- lymphoma lines (3s) containing floxed endogenous Runx1 with or without IFNβ in order to excise Runx1, before extracting RNA and performing microarray analysis. To account for IFNβ responses, parallel experiments with phenotypically similar control cells with wild type Runx1 that cannot be excised (30s) were performed.