Myeloid Differentiation Flashcards
what is an epigenetic landscape?
where chromatin regulates which genes are turned on and off via transcription factors (TFs)
- TFs guide cell fate lineages
what do MEPs generate?
- megakaryocytes –> platelets
- erythrocytes
what do GMPs generate?
granulocytes
monocytes –> macrophages
what factors drive cell fate decisions?
extrinsic factors - molecules that are provided by other cells e.g. cytokines
intrinsic factors - transcription factors within cells
what is a cytokine?
class of soluble protein or peptides which act as humoral regulators by stimulating cell signalling and promoting developmental processes and cell maturation.
- can be pro or anti-inflammatory
- guide cell fate decisions
- highly potent - only nano-picomolars needed in concentration
how are cytokines classified?
interleukins - target leukocytes
chemokines - induce chemotaxis of cells
interferons - anti-viral immune responses
colony-stimulating factors - induce growth of lineage colonies
what are colony stimulating factors?
– induces growth of colonies in semi- solid methylcellulose medium – individual cells in solid matrix, but cannot diffuse, so proliferation forms a colony
- Granulocyte colony is dense and small
- Macrophage colony is looser and disperses
what are examples of colony stimulating factors?
Macrophage CSF (M-CSF) induces macrophages from progenitors
Addition of granulocyte CSF early enough will change progenitor cell fate from macrophage to granulocyte
what are examples of extrinsic signals for each cell fate lineage?
IL-3 = proliferation in all lineages, not specific
specific signals:
- TPO for platelets
- EPO for erythrocytes
- M-CSF for macrophages
- GM-CSF for GMP stage
- G-CSF for granulocytes
what are the producers and targets of stem cell factor (SCF)
producer: Bone marrow stromal cells
Targets: HSCs - maturation of haematopoietic lineages
what are the producers and targets of GM-CSF?
producers: T cells, macrophages, fibroblasts, endothelial cells
targets: Immature and committed progenitors, macrophages; granulocyte and monocyte differentiation, activation of macrophages
what are the producers and targets of M-CSF?
Producers: monocytes, endothelial cells, fibroblasts, mesangial cells
Targets: monocytes, macrophages
what are the producers and targets of IL-3?
producers: T cells
targets: immature progenitors - proliferation/maturation of all lineages
what are the producers and targets of IL-6?
producers: macrophages, endothelial cells, T cells
targets: proliferation of progenitors, neutrophils
what are the producers and targets of TPO?
producers: BM stromal cells, liver
targets: maturation of megakaryocytes and platelets
what are the producers and targets of EPO?
producers: eptihelial-like cells in renal cortex under hypoxic stress
targets: maturation of erythrocytes
what are type 1 cytokines?
IL-3, IL-5, IL-6, GM-CSF, G-CSF
how do type 1 cytokines signal?
- Cytokine receptor at PM
- When engaged with cytokine, phosphorylation of tyrosine with JAK kinase
- STATs activated by JAK enter nucleus and bind DNA motifs to promote expression of target genes involved in survival, proliferation, activation
Feedback loop to inactivate this pathway, ready for next round of activation
what are intrinsic signals of cell fate?
nuclear regulators: transcription factors (TFs)
- bind specific sequences of DNA (promoters or regulatory elements/enhancers)
- can bind alone or in complex with TFs
- induce co-activators and remodelling of chromatin to change transcriptional program
- most are activators some can be repressors
why does chromatin need to be remodelled? how does this happen?
Chromatin is wound around nucleosomes, so needs to be unwound and opened for TF access
- Promoters have multiple binding sites for multiple TFs – more specificity and activation
- remodelling complexes use ATP to remove nucleosome and enable access of 150 bp for TF binding
what intrinsic TFs are important for myeloid differentiation?
PU1 and GATA1 antagonise each other in the CMP progenitor
- GATA1 induces erythrocyte and megakaryocyte
- PU1 induces granulocyte/monocyte lineage
cEBP important for neutrophil development
GFli1 has inhibitory function
how do TFs guide lineage specification?
To become erythroid, need erythroid TFs to regulate erythroid genes
To become myeloid, need myeloid TFs to induce myeloid genes
TFs guide differentiation to become erythroid or myeloid cell
why must the extrinsic signals and TFs be balanced for myeloid differentiation?
There is overlap of what is required for different cell type
- Balance cytokines and TFs to guide cell fate decision
- Need to balance what cell types are produced as both populations are needed for survival – steady state
how can lineage fates respond to a depletion in red blood cells or low oxygen levels?
Need signals to repair problem:
More EPO production – more erythroid differentiation to erythrocytes
how do myeloid and erythroid TF signals antagonise each other to induce cell fate?
Myeloid TFs
- Need to reduce erythroid signal and boost myeloid
- Myeloid TFs have positive feedback, whilst inhibited erythroid TF
Erythroid TF
- Need to reduce myeloid signal and boost erythroid
- Erythorid TFs have positive feedback of TFs, whilst inhibiting myeloid TFs
what is PU.1?
transcription factor of the Ets family, which bind the core DNA sequence GGA(A/T)
- expressed in myeloid and lymphoid cells
- opposes the Meg/E lineage by binding to GATA-1 and repressing GATA-1 bound genes
in what cells is PU.1 expressed?
On in B cells
High expression in granulocytic and monocytic cells
Turned off in erythroid cells
Turned off in T cells
how has PU.1 been implicated in disease?
- enhancer is an integration site for a virus which can increase PU.1 expression aberrantly –> erythroleukaemia
is PU.1 necessary for life?
yes - PU.1 K/O leads to mice dying as they lack myeloid, B and T cells
how can PU.1 expression be measured in cells?
- GFP (green fluorescent protein) knocked into exon 1 of the PU.1 gene, resulting in a PU.1 heterozygous mouse PU.1 +/GFP
- One allele is normal, other is tagged with GFP
- Flow cytometry to see how much is in cells
what is the expression of PU.1 in cells of the haematopoietic lineage
- LT-HSC and ST-HSC – some PU1
- Myeloid and lymphoid have PU1
- MEP lose PU1 as they mature – megakaryocyte and erythrocyte have no PU1 expression
- GMP gain PU1 – high in granulocyte and monocyte
- premature B cells maintain PU1 at low level, increases in mature B cells
- T cell loses PU1 as it matures
what is PU.1’s effect on erythropoiesis?
acts negatively on erythropoiesis
- in PU.1 K/O mice there is a bias to erythroid phenotype - erythroid progenitors differentiate prematurely, leading to excessive apoptosis
- overexpression of PU.1 leads to anaemia due to a block of erythroid differentiation - accumulation of premature erythroblasts
how is PU.1 involved in regulating production of erythroid progenitors?
low PU.1 levels are important for proliferation of early erythroid progenitors
PU.1 must then be downregulated for terminal differentiation into red blood cells
what is the role of PU.1?
master regulator of myeloid differentation:
- Generation of monocytes and neutrophils is highly dependent on PU.1
- PU.1 is indispensible for CMPs differentiation to GMPs
how can PU.1 be studied in early differentiation stages from the from HSC progenitor?
induce PU.1 conditional knockout in bone marrow of adult mouse:
- leads to drop in HSC number
- loss of repopulation studies (bone marrow reconstitution assay)
- absence of CMPs and GMPs
- Controls have normal CMP and GMP,while PU1 K/O lacks these cells
how can PU.1 be studied in late differentiation stages from the from GMP progenitor?
Conditional K/O of PU.1 after GMP stage and sorted for CMPs or GMPs:
- colony forming potential of PU.1 deleted GMPs appears normal, however consists only of myeloblasts, no CD11b (maturation marker)
- colony forming potential of PU.1 deleted CMPs results in myeloblast colonies and MegE colonies
cells cant become granulocytes or monocytes anymore, only because myeloblasts or erythoid cells
what TFs dictate if a GMP becomes a macrophage or neutrophil?
PU.1 and C/EBPa
- neutrophil: C/EBPa increases, PU1 stays constant, Gfi-1 expression goes up
- Macrophage: PU1 is increased, C/EBP stays constant, EGR and NAB increases
antagonism:
- G-fi1 inhibits EGR and Nab to promote neutrophil
- EGR and Nab inhibits G-fli1 to promote macrophage
what is C/EBPa?
TF whihc binds CCAAT enhancer
- Expressed lowly in HSCs, then upregulated in granulocytes and monocytes
- C/EBPα -/- knockout mice die few hours after birth due to hepatic hypoglycemia
- Conditional C/EBPα -/- mice showed that the knockout blocks the transition from CMPs to GMPs
- C/EBPα and PU.1 levels determine the cell fate choice into macrophages or neutrophils
what is the network that drives macrophage vs neutrophil specification?
balance between PU.1 and C/EBPα determines the lineage fate
Secondary factors (Egr/Nab or Gfi-1) are reinforcing the establishment of each lineage
what is a PUER cell?
cell line generated from PU1 K/O mice – not viable but live during embryonic stage, CMPs in foetal liver can be obtained
PU.1-eostrogen receptor TF bound to ligand binding domain
- if nothing bound, it is in cytoplasm
- if bound to tamoxifen, it enters nucleus and becomes active to drive gene transcription and differentiation to macrophage or neutrophil
how do IL-3 and G-CSF affect macrophage/neutrophil differentiation via PU.1?
IL-3 induces proliferation of macrophages under PU.1 transcription
G-CSF skews towards neutrophils over macrophages, despite PU.1
- G-CSF enhances C/EBPa
extrinsic factor G-CSF and intrinsic PU.1 dictate final differentiation step between macrophage or neutrophil
how do extrinsic and intrinsic factors overlap in cell fate decisions?
cytokines modulate cell fate decisions by regulating lineage determining TFs
what is GATA1?
member of the GATA trancription factor family, which binds the DNA sequence GATA
- erythroid master regulator
- lowly expressed already in HSCs and CMPs
- essential for the development of erythrocytes and megakaryocytes
- GATA-1 knockout mice die during the embryonic stage E10.5 and E11.5 due to anemia
- regulator of the α- and β-globin genes, GATA-1 itself, Epo and EpoR (receptor)
- antagonizes PU.1 by displacing the co-activator c-Jun at its Ets domain
what complex does GATA1 recruit when it binds DNA?
GATA1 binds DNA and forms larger complex, SCL, E2A, Lmo2 bridging factor
– binds many specific DNA sites
– both elements needed for transcription
– more specificity