Transcriptional regulatory program controlled by MYB in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Leukemia, Nov 2024)

Xiaoman Shao # 1Rui Yokomori # 1Jolynn Zu Lin Ong 1Haoqing Shen 1Dennis Kappei 1 2 3Leilei Chen 1 3Allen Eng Juh Yeoh 1 3 4Shi Hao Tan 1Takaomi Sanda 5 6 7 8

Affiliations

  1. Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
  2. Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
  3. NUS Center for Cancer Research, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
  4. Department of Pediatrics, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
  5. Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore. takaomi_sanda@u.nus.edu.
  6. NUS Center for Cancer Research, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore. takaomi_sanda@u.nus.edu.
  7. Department of Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore. takaomi_sanda@u.nus.edu.
  8. Department of Hematology and Oncology, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya, Japan. takaomi_sanda@u.nus.edu.  #Contributed equally.

Abstract

The transcription factor MYB is frequently upregulated in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), a hematological malignancy originating from T-cell precursors. Here, we demonstrate that MYB plays a crucial role by regulating genes essential for T-ALL pathogenesis. Integrative analysis reveals a long MYB isoform, ENST00000367814.8, which is dominantly expressed and confers a proliferative advantage in T-ALL cells. Rapid depletion of MYB via dTAG-mediated protein degradation affects a large number of genes, which can be classified into early response or late response genes based on their kinetics. Early response genes include many genes involved in hematopoiesis, such as TAL1, RUNX1, GATA3, IKZF2, and CXCR4. Their expression can be recovered at later time-points, suggesting the presence of a negative feedback loop mechanism. In contrast, late response genes, which are continuously downregulated after MYB depletion, includes many genes involved in cell proliferation as well as TAL1 targets, thereby affecting the cellular phenotype.