ASXL1 Mutations Promote Myeloid Transformation Through Loss of PRC2-Mediated Gene Repression

Recurrent somatic ASXL1 mutations occur in patients with myelodysplasia (MDS), myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN), and acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and are associated with adverse outcome. Despite the genetic and clinical data implicating ASXL1 mutations in myeloid malignancies, the mechanisms of transformation by ASXL1 mutations are not understood. Here we identify that ASXL1 mutations result in loss of PRC2-mediated histone H3 lysine 27 (H3K27) tri-methylation. Through integration of microarray data with genome-wide histone modification ChIP-Seq data we identify targets of ASXL1 repression including the posterior HOXA cluster that is known to contribute to myeloid transformation. We demonstrate that ASXL1 associates with the Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2), and that loss of ASXL1 in vivo collaborates with NRASG12D to promote myeloid leukemogenesis. To assess the genome-wide effects of ASXL1 loss on chromatin state we performed chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by next generation sequencing (CHIP-seq) for histone modifications known to be associated with PcG (histone H3 lysine 27 trimethylation (H3K27me3)) or TxG activity (histone H3 lysine 4 trimethylation (H3K4me3)) in UKE1 cells expressing empty vector (EV) or 2 independent validated shRNAs for ASXL1. This Series represents the ChIP-Seq data (not the microarray data referenced in the summary above). The related micorarray data are available in GEO as GSE38692.