|
pubmed:abstractText |
Mutations in the human nucleophosmin (NPM1) gene are the most frequent genetic alteration in adult acute myeloid leukemias (AMLs) and result in aberrant cytoplasmic translocation of this nucleolar phosphoprotein (NPMc+). However, underlying mechanisms leading to leukemogenesis remain unknown. To address this issue, we took advantage of the zebrafish model organism, which expresses 2 genes orthologous to human NPM1, referred to as npm1a and npm1b. Both genes are ubiquitously expressed, and their knockdown produces a reduction in myeloid cell numbers that is specifically rescued by NPM1 expression. In zebrafish, wild-type human NPM1 is nucleolar while NPMc+ is cytoplasmic, as in human AML, and both interact with endogenous zebrafish Npm1a and Npm1b. Forced NPMc+ expression in zebrafish causes an increase in pu.1(+) primitive early myeloid cells. A more marked perturbation of myelopoiesis occurs in p53(m/m) embryos expressing NPMc+, where mpx(+) and csf1r(+) cell numbers are also expanded. Importantly, NPMc+ expression results in increased numbers of definitive hematopoietic cells, including erythromyeloid progenitors in the posterior blood island and c-myb/cd41(+) cells in the ventral wall of the aorta. These results are likely to be relevant to human NPMc+ AML, where the observed NPMc+ multilineage expression pattern implies transformation of a multipotent stem or progenitor cell.
|
