This proposed diagnostic group is supported by (i) retained myeloid differentiation potential during early T cell lymphoid development, (ii) recognition that some cases of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) harbour hallmarks of T cell development, such as T-cell receptor gene rearrangements and (iii) common gene mutations in subsets of AML and T cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL), including WT1, PHF6, RUNX1 and BCL11B.
Our studies show BCL11B is a key regulator of the initial stages of human T-cell differentiation and delineate the BCL11B transcriptional program, enabling the dissection of the underpinnings of normal T-cell differentiation and providing a resource for understanding dysregulations in T-ALL.
B cell CLL/lymphoma 11B (Bcl11b), a C2H2 zinc finger transcription factor, not only serves as a critical regulator in development but also plays the controversial role in T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL).
Yet, none of these T-ALLs had a clonal chromosome t(12;14) translocation that deleted Bcl11b indicating that Tcrδ translocations that inactivate a copy of Bcl11b promote transformation of Atm-deficient thymocytes.
Within the standard risk group of thymic T-ALL (n = 102), low BCL11b expression identified patients with an unexpected poor outcome compared to those with high expression (5-year OS: 20%, n = 18 versus 62%, n = 84, P < 0.01).
On the other hand, Bcl11b is a haploinsufficient tumor suppressor and loss of a Bcl11b allele provides susceptibility to mouse thymic lymphoma and human T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Downregulation of the B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)/lymphoma11B (BCL11B) gene by small interfering RNA (siRNA) leads to growth inhibition and apoptosis of the human T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) cell line Molt-4.
Our findings provide compelling evidence that BCL11B is a haploinsufficient tumor suppressor that collaborates with all major T-ALL oncogenic lesions in human thymocyte transformation.
When highly efficient and specific BCL11B-935-siRNA was used to analyze the inhibition of BCL11B mRNA level in primary T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) cells, similar result was obtained.
Here we show that transgenic expression of human TLX1 in mice induces T-ALL with frequent deletions and mutations in Bcl11b (encoding B cell leukemia/lymphoma-11B) and identify the presence of recurrent mutations and deletions in BCL11B in 16% of human T-ALLs.
The expression levels of the above mentioned genes and their correlation with the BCL11B gene were analyzed in patients with T-ALL using the TaqMan and SYBR Green I real-time polymerase chain reaction technique.
In T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) the cardiac homeobox gene NKX2-5 (at 5q35) is variously deregulated by regulatory elements coordinating with BCL11B (at 14q32.2), or the T-cell receptor gene TRD (at 14q11.2), respectively.
Cytogenetic analysis of a pediatric T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cell line (HPB-ALL) revealed the cryptic t(5;14)(q35;q32.2), recently found in 15-20% pediatric T-ALL patients, with 5q35 and 14q32.2 breakpoints at 5'-HOX11L2 and 3'-BCL11B, respectively.
We describe a novel variant t(5;14) whereby NKX2-5, a related (NK-like family) homeobox gene located approximately 2 Mb telomeric of TLX3, juxtaposes BCL11B in a subset of T-cell ALL cell lines.