Transcriptome analysis of human Natural Killer (NK) cells overexpressing the transcription factor RUNX2-I isoform.

Research has already gained much insight into the roles of various members of the RUNX family of transcription factors in the development of human T- and B-cells, however the importance in human NK cell development remains unclear. In this study we discovered that NK cells predominantly express the shorter of the two principal isoforms of RUNX2, also referred to as RUNX2-I. Therefore, we overexpressed the RUNX2-I isoform in human umbilical cord blood-derived hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC) and cultured them in vitro in an NK cell differentiation model. On day 14 of culture (CD56+CD94+) NK cells from RUNX2-I overexpression and control cultures were sorted, after which mRNA was isolated and transcriptome analysis was performed by RNA sequencing. Evaluation of the transcriptome in these NK cells could reveal the molecular mechanisms of the RUNX2-I isoform. mRNA profile of RUNX2-I overexpressing NK cells from d14 of culture in comparison to control transduced NK cells.