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Lymphoma

Evidence for an oncogenic role of AHI-1 in Sezary syndrome, a leukemic variant of human cutaneous T-cell lymphomas

Abstract

Ahi-1 (Abelson helper integration site 1) is a novel gene frequently activated by provirus insertional mutagenesis in murine leukemias and lymphomas. Its involvement in human leukemogenesis is demonstrated by gross perturbations in its expression in human leukemia cells, particularly in cutaneous T-cell lymphoma cell lines where increases in AHI-1 transcripts of 40-fold are seen. To test directly whether deregulated expression of AHI-1 contributes to their transformed properties, knockdown of AHI-1 expression in Hut78 cells, a cell line derived from a patient with Sezary syndrome (SS), was performed using retroviral-mediated RNA interference. Retroviral-mediated suppression specifically inhibited expression of AHI-1 and its isoforms in transduced cells by 80% and also reduced autocrine production of interleukin (IL)-2, IL-4 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) by up to 85%. It further significantly reduced their growth factor independence in vitro and the ability to produce tumors in immunodeficient mice. Interestingly, aberrant expression of AHI-1, particularly truncated isoforms, was present in CD4+CD7 Sezary cells from some patients with SS. Elevated expression of IL-2 and TNFα was also found in these cells. These findings provide strong evidence of the oncogenic activity of AHI-1 in human leukemogenesis and demonstrate that its deregulation may contribute to the development of SS.

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Acknowledgements

We thank K Saw for excellent technical assistance and A Wanhill for assistance in preparing this paper. This work was supported by grants from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada and in part by the Cancer Research Society (XJ). A Ringrose was a recipient of a BC Cancer Studentship, E Pang was a recipient of a University of British Columbia Summer Studentship, and A Weng and X Jiang are both Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholars.

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Ringrose, A., Zhou, Y., Pang, E. et al. Evidence for an oncogenic role of AHI-1 in Sezary syndrome, a leukemic variant of human cutaneous T-cell lymphomas. Leukemia 20, 1593–1601 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2404321

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