Characterizing the contrasting roles of JMJD3 and UTX histone demethylases in T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia [shJMJD3_ChIP-seq]

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is an immature hematopoietic malignancy driven mainly by oncogenic activation of NOTCH1 signaling. In this study we abrogated the expression of JMJD3 (KDM6B) and UTX (KDM6A) H3K27me3 demethylases in human T-ALL lines and assayed for genome-wide changes in H3K27me3 levels. This piece of data was further integrated to expression changes using RNA sequencing in the same cells as well as ChIP-Sequencing analysis of H3K27me3 and JMJD3 genome-wide analysis from treatment of T-ALL lines with the GSKJ4 inhibitor. These results, coupled to genomic analysis of primary samples for the genomic status of the UTX gene in T-ALL, helped us to identify a hitherto unknown role of JMJD3 as an oncogenice facilitator in leukemia whereas UTX seems to play a tumor suppressor role. Half to one million cells were treated with micrococcal nuclease (MNASE) to generate mononucleosomal particles and an adaptation of the Upstate ChIP protocol was used.