Steel factor sustains SCL expression and the survival of purified CD34+ bone marrow cells in the absence of detectable cell differentiation

Kit and Scl regulation of hematopoietic stem cells

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

KIT tyrosine kinase receptor is essential for several tissue stem cells, especially for hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Moderately decreased KIT signaling is well known to cause anemia and defective HSC self-renewal, whereas gain-of-function mutations are infrequently found in leukemias. Thus, maintaining KIT signal strength is critically important for homeostasis. KIT signaling in HSCs involves effectors such as SHP2 and PTPN11. This review summarizes the recent developments on the novel mechanisms regulating or reinforcing KIT signal strength in HSCs and its perturbation in polycythemia vera.

RECENT FINDINGS

Stem cell leukemia (SCL) is a transcription factor that is essential for HSC development. Genetic experiments indicate that Kit, protein tyrosine phosphatase, nonreceptor type 11 (Ptpn11), or Scl control long-term HSC self-renewal, survival, and quiescence in adults. Kit is now shown to be centrally involved in two feedforward loops in HSCs, one with Ptpn11 and the other with Scl.

SUMMARY

Knowledge of the regulatory mechanisms that favor self-renewal divisions or a lineage determination process is central to the design of strategies to expand HSCs for the purpose of cell therapy. In addition, transcriptome and phosphoproteome analyses of erythroblasts in polycythemia vera identified lower SCL expression and hypophosphorylated KIT, suggesting that the KIT-SCL loop is relevant to the pathophysiology of human blood disorders as well.

Genetic interaction between Kit and Scl

SCL/TAL1, a tissue-specific transcription factor of the basic helix-loop-helix family, and c-Kit, a tyrosine kinase receptor, control hematopoietic stem cell survival and quiescence. Here we report that SCL levels are limiting for the clonal expansion of Kit⁺ multipotent and erythroid progenitors. In addition, increased SCL expression specifically enhances the sensitivity of these progenitors to steel factor (KIT ligand) without affecting interleukin-3 response, whereas a DNA-binding mutant antagonizes KIT function and induces apoptosis in progenitors. Furthermore, a twofold increase in SCL levels in mice bearing a hypomorphic Kit allele (W41/41) corrects their hematocrits and deficiencies in erythroid progenitor numbers. At the molecular level, we found that SCL and c-Kit signaling control a common gene expression signature, of which 19 genes are associated with apoptosis. Half of those were decreased in purified megakaryocyte/erythroid progenitors (MEPs) from W41/41 mice and rescued by the SCL transgene. We conclude that Scl operates downstream of Kit to support the survival of MEPs. Finally, higher SCL expression upregulates Kit in normal bone marrow cells and increases chimerism after bone marrow transplantation, indicating that Scl is also upstream of Kit. We conclude that Scl and Kit establish a positive feedback loop in multipotent and MEPs.

Low expression of stem cell antigen-1 on mouse haematopoietic precursors is associated with erythroid differentiation

Sca1 is a surface marker of haematopoietic stem cell but its role in erythropoiesis is still largely unknown. In this work we evaluated the ability of Sca1⁺ cells to differentiate into cells of the erythrocytic lineage. We performed FACS analysis of complete and purified Sca1⁺ bone marrow cells from C3H/HeNHsd mice and measured the expression of CD71 and Terr119 to evaluate the stages in erythroid development. Definitive erythropoiesis was evident within the complete bone marrow, while only proerythroblasts were found in Sca1⁺ cells, suggesting that Sca1 is a negative regulator of erythropoiesis. We also used FDCP-mix cells and their PU.1 and SCL transfectants. The PU.1 transfectant showed significantly increased expression of Sca1 and was not induced to differentiate into red blood cells, while the SCL transfectant showed significantly lower expression of Sca1 and produced red blood cells. The results of this study suggest that increased Sca1 expression on erythropoietic precursors inhibits erythroid differentiation.

The anaemia of cancer: death by a thousand cuts

Cancer has a negative systemic impact on its host in addition to its local or metastatic effects, and no cancer complication is more ubiquitous than anaemia, a condition for which there is now a specific remedy, the recombinant growth factor erythropoietin. This is not a trivial therapeutic consideration, because cancer-associated anaemia has an adverse influence on survival regardless of tumour type. However, the pharmacological correction of anaemia with recombinant erythropoietin could promote tumour growth, whereas the use of tumour-necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha) and TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand as antitumour agents could exacerbate anaemia, thereby perpetuating tissue hypoxia and tumour progression.

The origin of hematopoietic cell type diversity

The hematopoietic system remains robust with regards to extrinsic perturbations, in sharp contrast with the stochastic behavior of hematopoeitic stem cells (HSCs) at the single cell level, suggesting that stability may be achieved within a stem cell system that undergoes constant self-renewal, commitment to differentiation and generates cell type diversification. Converging evidence at the interface of cellular, molecular and numerical studies suggests that diversity is generated by the chaotic dynamics of transcription factor networks within a cell and of the combination of growth factors and cytokines in the environment, both involving cooperation and competition. Current evidence indicates that HSCs are primed for multilineage gene expression. A subtle shift in transcription factor dosage is sufficient to perturb this equilibrium and to drive lineage commitment that involves a resolution of complexity at the molecular level and a transition towards less chaotic behavior. This dynamical instability establishes a state of responsiveness to extrinsic signals. Evolutionary conserved environmental cues that drive pattern formation or migratory behavior during embryonic development operate in the adult to influence the decision between self-renewal and differentiation in HSCs, as exemplified by the role of Notch1, Wnt proteins, BMPs and VEGF. In contrast, a network of cytokines uniquely present in mammalians influences later developmental stages, from progenitors with more restricted potentials (tri-, bi- or unipotent) to mature functional cells. These cytokines have co-opted the ancient Jak-STAT pathway but also appear to trigger lineage-affiliated transcription factors, thus linking environmental signaling to cell fate decisions.

Characterization of DNA-binding-dependent and -independent functions of SCL/TAL1 during human erythropoiesis

The transcription factor TAL1 has major functions during embryonic hematopoiesis and in adult erythropoiesis and megakaryocytopoiesis. These functions rely on different TAL1 structural domains that are responsible for dimerization, transactivation, and DNA binding. Previous work, most often done in mice, has shown that some TAL1 functions do not require DNA binding. To study the role of TAL1 and the relevance of the TAL1 DNA-binding domain in human erythropoiesis, we developed an approach that allows an efficient enforced wild-type or mutant TAL1 protein expression in human hematopoietic CD34+ cells using a lentiviral vector. Differentiation capacities of the transduced cells were studied in a culture system that distinguishes early and late erythroid development. Results indicate that enforced TAL1 expression enhances long-term culture initiating cell (LTC-IC) potential and erythroid differentiation of human CD34+ cells as shown by increased βglobin and porphobilinogen deaminase (PBGD) gene expressions and erythroid colony-forming units (CFU-Es), erythroid burst-forming units (BFU-Es), and glycophorin A-positive (GPA+) cell productions. Enforced expression of a TAL1 protein deleted of its DNA-binding domain (named ΔbTAL1) mimicked most TAL1 effects except for the LTC-IC enhancement, the down-regulation of the CD34 surface marker, and the GPA+ cell production. These results provide the first functional indications of DNA-binding-dependent and -independent roles of TAL1 in human erythropoiesis. (Blood. 2004;103:3326-3335)