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EBF1–JAK2 inhibits the PAX5 function through physical interaction with PAX5 and kinase activity

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Abstract

Gene aberrations of B-cell regulators and growth signal components such as the JAK–STAT pathway are frequently found in B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). EBF1 is a B-cell regulator that regulates the expression of PAX5 and co-operates with PAX5 to regulate B-cell differentiation. Here, we analyzed the function of the fusion protein of EBF1 and JAK2, EBF1–JAK2 (E–J). E–J caused constitutive activation of JAK–STAT and MAPK pathways and induced autonomous cell growth in a cytokine-dependent cell line. E–J did not affect the transcriptional activity of EBF1 but inhibited that of PAX5. Both the physical interaction of E–J with PAX5 and kinase activity of E–J were required for E–J to inhibit PAX5 function, although the detailed mechanism of inhibition remains unclear. Importantly, gene set enrichment analysis using the results of our previous RNA-seq data of 323 primary BCR-ABL1-negative ALL samples demonstrated repression of the transcriptional target genes of PAX5 in E–J-positive ALL cells, which suggests that E–J also inhibited PAX5 function in ALL cells. Our results shed new light on the mechanisms of differentiation block by kinase fusion proteins.

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Data availability

The RNA-seq data analysed during the current study have been deposited in the DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) and are accessible through DDBJ accession numbers JGAS000275, JGAS000276, and JGAS000278.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. W. S. Pear and Dr. R. A. Van Etten for providing MIGRI and EcoPack, respectively. We are very grateful to all members of our laboratory for their technical assistance. This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 18H02835, 21K19505, and 22H03102 (to F.H.); Grants for Practical Research for Innovative Cancer Control Grant Numbers JP16ck0106129, JP19ck0106331, and JP22ck0106607 (to F.H.) from Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED). We sincerely thank all for their support.

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Author notes

  1. Yukino Kojima and Fumika Kawashima have contributed equally to this work, and both have the right to be listed first in bibliographic documents.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Cellular and Genetic Sciences, Department of Integrated Health Sciences, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1-20 Daiko-Minami, Higashi-ku, Nagoya, 461-0047, Japan

    Yukino Kojima, Fumika Kawashima, Koya Odaira, Chiharu Yamada, Ami Muraki, Mina Noura, Shuichi Okamoto, Shogo Tamura, Tetsuhito Kojima & Fumihiko Hayakawa

  2. Clinical Research Center, National Hospital Organization Nagoya Medical Center, Nagoya, Japan

    Takahiko Yasuda, Eisuke Iwamoto & Masashi Sanada

  3. Department of Hematology and Oncology, Anjo Kosei Hospital, Anjo, Japan

    Yuichiro Inagaki

  4. Department of Hematology and Rheumatology, Kindai University School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan

    Itaru Matsumura

  5. Department of Hematology, Atomic Bomb Disease and Hibakusha Medicine Unit, Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan

    Yasushi Miyazaki

  6. Aichi Health Promotion Foundation, Nagoya, Japan

    Tetsuhito Kojima

  7. Department of Hematology and Oncology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan

    Hitoshi Kiyoi

  8. Department of Biochemistry, Aichi Medical University School of Medicine, Nagakute, Japan

    Shinobu Tsuzuki

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  1. Yukino Kojima
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Contributions

FH, YK, and FK designed the research. TY, EI and MS conducted RNA-seq. YK, FK, YI, KO, CY, AM, MN, SO, ST, ST, TK, and FH performed all other experiments. IM, YM, HK, and FH collected clinical samples. All authors wrote the manuscript, have contributed significantly, and are in agreement with the content of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Fumihiko Hayakawa.

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No authors have potential competing interests in relation to this study. Y. Miyazaki is an associate editor of International Journal of Hematology.

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Kojima, Y., Kawashima, F., Yasuda, T. et al. EBF1–JAK2 inhibits the PAX5 function through physical interaction with PAX5 and kinase activity. Int J Hematol 118, 65–74 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12185-023-03585-z

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