Status
Public on Feb 19, 2013
Title
The histone H2B ubiquitin ligase RNF20 is required for MLL-rearranged leukemia
Experiment type
Expression profiling by high throughput sequencing
Summary
MLL-fusions are potent oncogenes that initiate aggressive forms of acute leukemia. As aberrant transcriptional regulators, MLL-fusion proteins alter gene expression in hematopoietic cells through interactions with the histone H3 lysine 79 (H3K79) methyltransferase DOT1L. Notably, interference with MLL-fusion cofactors like DOT1L is an emerging therapeutic strategy in this disease. Here we identify the histone H2B E3 ubiquitin ligase RNF20 as an additional requirement for MLL-fusion-mediated leukemogenesis. Suppressing the expression of Rnf20 in diverse models of MLL-rearranged leukemia leads to inhibition of cell proliferation; under tissue culture conditions as well as in vivo. Rnf20 knockdown leads to reduced expression of MLL-fusion target genes, including Hoxa9 and Meis1; effects that resemble Dot1l-inhibition. Using ChIP-seq, we found that H2B ubiquitination (H2Bub) is enriched in the body of MLL-fusion target genes, correlating with sites of H3K79 methylation and transcription elongation. Furthermore, we found that Rnf20 is required to maintain local levels of H3K79 di-methylation by Dot1l at Hoxa9 and Meis1. These findings support a model whereby co-transcriptional recruitment of Rnf20 at MLL-fusion target genes leads to amplification of Dot1l-mediated H3K79 methylation, thereby rendering leukemia cells dependent on Rnf20 to maintain their oncogenic transcriptional program.
Overall design
Examination of gene expression profiles upon RNF20 RNAi in MLL-AF9 acute myeloid leukemia cells
Submission date
Jan 24, 2013
Last update date
May 15, 2019
Contact name
Shinpei Kawaoka
Phone
631-327-4269
Organization name
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Street address
1 Bungtown road
City
Cold Spring Harbor
ZIP/Postal code
11724
Country
USA
Platforms (1)
GPL13112
Illumina HiSeq 2000 (Mus musculus)
Relations
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Format
Supplementary file
Size
Download
File type/resource
Raw data are available in SRA
Processed data provided as supplementary file