Gene regulatory network analysis predicts cooperating transcription factor regulons required for FLT3-ITD+ AML growth

Daniel J L Coleman, Peter Keane, Rosario Luque-Martin, Paulynn S Chin, Helen Blair, Luke Ames, Sophie G Kellaway, James Griffin, Elizabeth Holmes, Sandeep Potluri, Salam A Assi, John Bushweller, Olaf Heidenreich*, Peter N Cockerill*, Constanze Bonifer*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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Abstract

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous disease caused by different mutations. Previously, we showed that each mutational subtype develops its specific gene regulatory network (GRN) with transcription factors interacting within multiple gene modules, many of which are transcription factor genes themselves. Here, we hypothesize that highly connected nodes within such networks comprise crucial regulators of AML maintenance. We test this hypothesis using FLT3-ITD-mutated AML as a model and conduct an shRNA drop-out screen informed by this analysis. We show that AML-specific GRNs predict crucial regulatory modules required for AML growth. Furthermore, our work shows that all modules are highly connected and regulate each other. The careful multi-omic analysis of the role of one (RUNX1) module by shRNA and chemical inhibition shows that this transcription factor and its target genes stabilize the GRN of FLT3-ITD+ AML and that its removal leads to GRN collapse and cell death.

Original languageEnglish
Article number113568
JournalCell Reports
Volume42
Issue number12
Early online date15 Dec 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 26 Dec 2023

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgments
We are grateful to the Genomics Birmingham Facility and to the University of Birmingham Flow Cytometry platform for their expert services. This work as funded by a grant from the Medical Research Council UK to C.B., O.H., and P.N.C. (MR/S021469/1), by a grant from Blood Cancer UK to C.B. and P.N.C. (15001), and by a grant from the National Institutes of Health to J.B. (R01 CA234478). D.J.L.C. is a John Goldman Fellow of Leukemia UK (2021/JGF/001).

Copyright © 2023 The Authors.

Keywords

  • Humans
  • Gene Regulatory Networks
  • Regulon
  • Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/genetics
  • Mutation/genetics
  • RNA, Small Interfering
  • fms-Like Tyrosine Kinase 3/genetics

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