KAT6A and ENL form an epigenetic transcriptional control module to drive critical leukemogenic gene expression programs.
Fangxue YanJinyang LiJelena MilosevicRicardo PetroniSuying LiuZhennan ShiSalina YuanJanice M ReynagaYuwei QiJoshua RicoSixiang YuYiman LiuSusumu RokudaiNeil PalmisianoSara E MeyerPamela J SungLiling WanFei LanBenjamin A GarciaBen Z StangerDavid Brian SykesM Andres BlancoPublished in: Cancer discovery (2021)
Epigenetic programs are dysregulated in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and help enforce an oncogenic state of differentiation arrest. To identify key epigenetic regulators of AML cell fate, we performed a differentiation-focused CRISPR screen in AML cells. This screen identified the histone acetyltransferase KAT6A as a novel regulator of myeloid differentiation that drives critical leukemogenic gene expression programs. We show that KAT6A is the initiator of a newly-described transcriptional control module in which KAT6A-catalyzed promoter H3K9ac is bound by the acetyllysine reader ENL, which in turn cooperates with a network of chromatin factors to induce transcriptional elongation. Inhibition of KAT6A has strong anti-AML phenotypes in vitro and in vivo, suggesting that KAT6A small molecule inhibitors could be of high therapeutic interest for mono or combinatorial differentiation-based treatment of AML.
Keyphrases
- gene expression
- acute myeloid leukemia
- dna methylation
- transcription factor
- small molecule
- genome wide
- allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
- public health
- cell fate
- induced apoptosis
- crispr cas
- bone marrow
- genome editing
- cell cycle
- dendritic cells
- cell proliferation
- dna damage
- combination therapy
- signaling pathway
- single cell
- cell death
- network analysis
- living cells
- immune response