Fli-1 overexpression in erythroleukemic cells promotes erythroid de-differentiation while Spi-1/PU.1 exerts the opposite effect

Vecchiarelli-Federico,Laura  M.; Liu,Tangjingjun; Yao,Yao; Gao,Yuanyuan; Li,Yanmei; Li,You-Jun; Ben-David,Yaacov

doi:10.3892/ijo.2017.4027

Fli-1 overexpression in erythroleukemic cells promotes erythroid de-differentiation while Spi-1/PU.1 exerts the opposite effect

Authors:
- Laura M. Vecchiarelli-Federico
- Tangjingjun Liu
- Yao Yao
- Yuanyuan Gao
- Yanmei Li
- You-Jun Li
- Yaacov Ben-David
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Affiliations: Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1L7, Canada, The Key Laboratory of Chemistry for Natural Products of Guizhou Province and Chinese Academic of Sciences, Guiyang, Guizhou 550014, P.R. China, Department of Anatomy, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin 130021, P.R. China, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario M4N 3M5, Canada
Published online on: June 2, 2017 https://doi.org/10.3892/ijo.2017.4027
Pages: 456-466
Copyright: © Vecchiarelli-Federico et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

The ETS transcription factors play a critical role during hematopoiesis. In F-MuLV-induced erythroleukemia, Fli‑1 insertional activation producing high expression of this transcription factor required to promote proliferation. How deregulated Fli‑1 expression alters the balance between erythroid differentiation and proliferation is unknown. To address this issue, we exogenously overexpressed Fli‑1 in an erythroleukemic cell harboring activation of spi‑1/PU.1, another ETS gene involved in erythroleukemogenesis. While the proliferation in culture remains unaffected, Fli‑1 overexpression imparts morphological and immunohistochemical characteristics of immature erythroid progenitors. Fli‑1 overexpression in erythroleukemic cells increased the numbers of erythroid colonies on methylcellulose and reduced tumorigenicity as evidenced by increase latency of erythroleukemogenesis in mice inoculated with these cells. Although all transplanted mice developed enlargement of the spleen and liver due to leukemic infiltration, Fli‑1 overexpression altered the hematopoietic phenotype, significantly increasing the expression of regulatory hematopoietic genes cKIT, SCA-1, CD41 and CD71. In contrast, expression of Spi‑1/PU.1 in a Fli‑1 producing erythroleukemia cell line in which fli‑1 is activated, resulted in increased proliferation through activation of growth promoting proteins MAPK, AKT, cMYC and JAK2. Importantly, these progenitors express high levels of markers such as CD71 and TER119 associated with more mature erythroid cells. Thus, Fli‑1 overexpression induces a de-differentiation program by reverting CFU-E to BFU-E erythroid progenitor activity, while Spi‑1/PU.1 promoting maturation from BFU-E to CFU-E.

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