The t(8;21) Fusion Product, AML-1–ETO, Associates with C/EBP-α, Inhibits C/EBP-α-Dependent Transcription, and Blocks Granulocytic Differentiation

ABSTRACT

AML-1B is a hematopoietic transcription factor that is functionally inactivated by multiple chromosomal translocations in human acute myeloblastic and B-cell lymphocytic leukemias. The t(8;21)(q22;q22) translocation replaces the C terminus, including the transactivation domain of AML-1B, with ETO, a nuclear protein of unknown function. We previously showed that AML-1–ETO is a dominant inhibitor of AML-1B-dependent transcriptional activation. Here we demonstrate that AML-1–ETO also inhibits C/EBP-α-dependent activation of the myeloid cell-specific, rat defensin NP-3 promoter. AML-1B bound the core enhancer motifs present in the NP-3 promoter and activated transcription approximately sixfold. Similarly, C/EBP-α bound NP-3 promoter sequences and activated transcription approximately sixfold. Coexpression of C/EBP-α with AML-1B or its family members, AML-2 and murine AML-3, synergistically activated the NP-3 promoter up to 60-fold. The t(8;21) product, AML-1–ETO, repressed AML-1B-dependent activation of NP-3 and completely inhibited C/EBP-α-dependent activity as well as the synergistic activation. In contrast, the inv(16) product, which indirectly targets AML family members by fusing their heterodimeric DNA binding partner, CBF-β, to the myosin heavy chain, inhibited AML-1B but not C/EBP-α activation or the synergistic activation. AML-1–ETO and C/EBP-α were coimmunoprecipitated and thus physically interact in vivo. Deletion mutants demonstrated that the C terminus of ETO was required for AML-1–ETO-mediated repression of the synergistic activation but not for association with C/EBP-α. Finally, overexpression of AML-1–ETO in myeloid progenitor cells prevented granulocyte colony-stimulating factor-induced differentiation. Thus, AML-1–ETO may contribute to leukemogenesis by specifically inhibiting C/EBP-α- and AML-1B-dependent activation of myeloid promoters and blocking differentiation.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Alan Friedman and Dong Er Zhang for kindly sharing plasmids and preliminary results with us, Bart Lutterbach, Randy Fenrick, John Nip, and David Strom for helpful discussions, and Dana King, Niaz Banaiee, and Jing Wu for technical assistance.

This work was supported by NIH grants CA64140 and CA77274 and ACS grant JFRA-591 (to S.W.H.), NCI grant CA77176 (to J.J.W.), the American Lebanese and Syrian Associated Charities of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and the Vanderbilt Cancer Center.