Open AccessDisruption of PLZP in Mice Leads to Increased T-Lymphocyte Proliferation, Cytokine Production, and Altered Hematopoietic Stem Cell Homeostasis
Author(s) -
Francesco Piazza,
José A. Costoya,
Taha Merghoub,
Robin M. Hobbs,
Pier Paolo Pandolfi
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
molecular and cellular biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.14
H-Index - 327
eISSN - 1067-8824
pISSN - 0270-7306
DOI - 10.1128/mcb.24.23.10456-10469.2004
Subject(s) - biology , fanconi anemia , haematopoiesis , stem cell , progenitor cell , hematopoietic stem cell , microbiology and biotechnology , cancer research , immunology , genetics , dna repair , gene
Deregulated function of members of the POK (POZ and Kruppel) family of transcriptional repressors, such as promyelocytic leukemia zinc finger (PLZF) and B-cell lymphoma 6 (BCL-6), plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, respectively. PLZP, also known as TZFP, FAZF, or ROG, is a novel POK protein that displays strong homology with PLZF and has been implicated in the pathogenesis of the cancer-predisposing syndrome, Fanconi's anemia, and of APL, in view of its ability to heterodimerize with the FANC-C and PLZF proteins, respectively. Here we report the generation and characterization of mice in which we have specifically inactivated the PLZP gene through in-frame insertion of a lacZ reporter and without perturbing the expression of the neighboring MLL2 gene. We show that PLZP-deficient mice display defects in cell cycle control and cytokine production in the T-cell compartment. Importantly, PLZP inactivation perturbs the homeostasis of the hematopoietic stem and/or progenitor cell. On the basis of our data, a deregulation of PLZP function in Fanconi's anemia and APL may affect the biology of the hematopoietic stem cell, in turn contributing to the pathogenesis of these disorders.