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Overexpression of N-Myc Rapidly Causes Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Mice

Department of Genetics and Tumor Cell Biology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee

Requests for reprints: Gerard C. Grosveld, Department of Genetics and Tumor Cell Biology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 332 North Lauderdale, Memphis, TN 38105. Phone: 901-495-2279; Fax: 901-526-2907; E-mail: Gerard.Grosveld{at}stjude.org.

N-MYC encodes a basic helix-loop-helix/leucine zipper (bHLH/LZ) transcription factor that is frequently overexpressed in human neuroblastoma. N-MYC overexpression has also been reported in human acute myeloid leukemias (AML), which we show here is a frequent event. Myeloid cells in N-Myc–overexpressing mouse bone marrow hyperproliferate but those in c-MYC–overexpressing bone marrow do not. The NH₂-terminal transactivation domain, nuclear localization signal, and bHLH/LZ domain of N-Myc are essential for this effect. Microarray analysis revealed 969 differentially expressed genes between N-Myc– and c-MYC–overexpressing myeloid cells. N-Myc–overexpressing cells showed decreased transforming growth factor ß signaling and increased c-Jun-NH₂-kinase signaling, both of which are associated with proliferation and leukemic transformation of myeloid cells. Mice transplanted with bone marrow expressing wild-type N-Myc developed clonal and transplantable AML after 1 month; those transplanted with bone marrow expressing mutant N-Myc did not. Twist, a known suppressor of the p19Arf/p53 pathway, was up-regulated in all tumors. These results show that N-Myc overexpression is highly oncogenic in mouse myeloid cells and suggest that N-MYC up-regulation contributes to human myeloid leukemogenesis. [Cancer Res 2007;67(22):10677–85]