Tet1 is a tumor suppressor of hematopoietic malignancy

Epigenetic pathways that regulate DNA methylation and chromatin modifications are frequently found to be dysregulated in human cancers. The TET methylcytosine dioxygenase 1 (TET1) enzyme is an important regulator of hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) in embryonic stem cells, neural progenitors,adult cells and reprogrammed cells. Decreased expression of TET proteins and loss of 5hmC has been reported in many tumors, suggesting a critical role for the maintenance of this epigenetic modification in normal cellular function. However, loss of TET1 function in the etiology of cancer has not been directly investigated. Here, we show that deletion of the Tet1 gene promotes the development of B cell lymphoma. Tet1 is required for maintaining normal levels of 5hmC, preventing aberrant DNA hypermethylation and for the regulation of transcriptional programs involved in B-cell lineage specification, chromosome maintenance, and DNA repair. Progenitor B cells in the absence of Tet1 accumulate DNA damage and whole-exome sequencing of Tet1-deficient tumors revealed a high correlation of mutations with those most frequently found in Non-Hodgkin B cell lymphoma (B-NHL) patients. In addition, we show that the TET1 gene is deleted, hypermethylated and transcriptionally silenced in B-NHL patients. These findings provide the first in vivo evidence of TET1 function as a tumor suppressor of hematopoietic malignancy.