Mouse Erythroleukemia (MEL) Cells Expressing Tagged Versions of BCL11A. Mus musculus

Differences in the amount of fetal hemoglobin (HbF) that persists into adulthood affect the severity of sickle cell disease and the beta-thalassemia syndromes. Genetic association studies have identified sequence variants in the gene BCL11A that influence HbF levels. Here we examine BCL11A as a potential regulator of HbF expression. The high HbF BCL11A genotype is associated with reduced BCL11A expression. Moreover, abundant expression of full-length forms of BCL11A is developmentally restricted to adult erythroid cells. Down-regulation of BCL11A expression in primary adult erythroid cells leads to robust HbF expression. Consistent with a direct role of BCL11A in globin gene regulation, we find that BCL11A occupies several discrete sites in the beta-globin gene cluster. BCL11A emerges as a therapeutic target for reactivation of HbF in beta-hemoglobin disorders. Expression clone label: FBB (4 different subclones, with 2 arrays each), Control label: MelBirA Keywords: cell type comparsion Overall design: Microarray expression analysis from parental control mouse erythroleukemia (MEL) cells containing the BirA enzyme (MelBirA cells) and cells containing tagged versions (FLAG-Biotag) of BCL11A. Two control datasets and eight datasets from four subclones containing tagged BCL11A are included.