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Dynamic interaction between TAL1 oncoprotein and LSD1 regulates TAL1 function in hematopoiesis and leukemogenesis

Oncogene volume 31, pages 5007–5018 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

TAL1/SCL is a hematopoietic-specific oncogene and its activity is regulated by associated transcriptional co-activators and corepressors. Dysregulation of TAL1 activity has been associated with T-cell leukemogenesis. However, it remains unclear how the interactions between TAL1 and corepressors versus co-activators are properly regulated. Here, we reported that protein kinase A (PKA)-mediated phosphorylation regulates TAL1 interaction with the lysine-specific demethylase (LSD1) that removes methyl group from methylated Lys 4 on histone H3 tails. Phosphorylation of serine 172 in TAL1 specifically destabilizes the TAL1–LSD1 interaction leading to promoter H3K4 hypermethylation and activation of target genes that have been suppressed in normal and malignant hematopoiesis. Knockdown of TAL1 or LSD1 led to a derepression of the TAL1 target genes in T-cell acute lymphoblast leukemia (T-ALL) Jurkat cells, which is accompanied by elevating promoter H3K4 methylation. Similarly, treatment of PKA activator forskolin resulted in derepression of target genes by reducing its interaction with LSD1 while PKA inhibitor H89 represses them by suppressing H3K4 methylation levels. Consistent with the dual roles of TAL1 in transcription, TAL1-associated LSD1 is decreased while recruitment of hSET1 is increased at the TAL1 targets during erythroid differentiation. This process is accompanied by a dramatic increase in H3K4 methylation. Thus, our data revealed a novel interplay between PKA phosphorylation and TAL1-mediated epigenetic regulation that regulates hematopoietic transcription and differentiation programs during hematopoiesis and leukemogenesis.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to members of the Huang laboratory for their suggestions and comments. This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Health (SH, R01HL090589, R01HL091929 and R01HL091929-01A1S1-the ARRA Administrative supplement; YQ, R01HL095674). BP is supported by NIH T32 training grant (5T32-CA9126-34). KZ is supported by the Intramural Research programs, National Heart Lung Blood Institute and National Institute of Health.

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  1. Y Li and C Deng: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Y Li, C Deng, X Hu, B Patel & S Huang

  2. College of Life Science, Jilin University, Changchun, China

    Y Li, X Hu & X Fu

  3. Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Y Qiu

  4. Shands Cancer Center, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Y Qiu & S Huang

  5. Sprott Center for Stem Cell Research, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    M Brand

  6. Systems Biology Center, NHLBI, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA

    K Zhao

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Li, Y., Deng, C., Hu, X. et al. Dynamic interaction between TAL1 oncoprotein and LSD1 regulates TAL1 function in hematopoiesis and leukemogenesis. Oncogene 31, 5007–5018 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2012.8

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