Mammalian microRNAs (miRNAs) are emerging as key regulators of the development and function of the immune system. Here, we report a strong but transient induction of miR-155 in mouse bone marrow after injection of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) correlated with granulocyte/monocyte (GM) expansion. Demonstrating the sufficiency of miR-155 to drive GM expansion, enforced expression in mouse bone marrow cells caused GM proliferation in a manner reminiscent of LPS treatment. However, the mir-155-induced GM populations displayed pathological features characteristic of myeloid neoplasia. Extending possible relevance to human disease, miR-155 was overexpressed in the bone marrow of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Furthermore, miR-155 repressed a subset of genes implicated in hematopoietic development and disease. These data implicate miR-155 as a contributor to physiological GM expansion during inflammation and to certain pathological features associated with AML, emphasizing the importance of proper miR-155 regulation in developing myeloid cells during times of inflammatory stress.
Sustained expression of microRNA-155 in hematopoietic stem cells causes a myeloproliferative disorder.
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View SamplesThe small G-protein KRAS is crucial for mediating gonadotropin-induced events associated with ovulation. However, constitutive expression of KrasG12D in granulosa cells disrupted normal follicle development leading to the persistence of abnormal follicle-like structures containing non-mitotic cells. To determine what factors mediate this potent effect of KrasG12D, gene profiling analyses were done. We also analyzed KrasG12D;Cyp19-Cre and KrasG12D;Pgr-Cre mutant mouse models that express Cre prior to or after the initiation of granulosa cell differentiation, respectively. KrasG12D induced cell cycle arrest in granulosa cells of the KrasG12D;Cyp19-Cre mice but not in the KrasG12D;Pgr-Cre mice, documenting the cell context specific effect of KrasG12D. Expression of KrasG12D silenced the Kras gene, reduced cell cycle activator genes and impaired expression of granulosa cell and oocyte specific genes. Conversely, levels of PTEN and phosphorylated p38MAPK increased markedly in the mutant granulosa cells. Because disrupting Pten in granulosa cells leads to increased proliferation and survival, Pten was disrupted in the KrasG12D mutant mice. The Pten/Kras mutant mice were infertile but lacked GCTs. By contrast, the Ptenfl/fl;KrasG12D;Amhr2-Cre mice developed aggressive ovarian surface epithelial (OSE) cell tumors that did not occur in the Ptenfl/fl;KrasG12D;Cyp19-Cre or Ptenfl/fl;KrasG12D;Pgr-Cre mouse strains. These data document unequivocally that Amhr2-Cre is expressed in and mediates allelic recombination of oncogenic genes in OSE cells. That KrasG12D/Pten mutant granulosa cells do not transform but rather undergo cell cycle arrest indicates that they resist the oncogenic insults of Kras/Pten by robust self-protecting mechanisms that silence the Kras gene and elevate PTEN and phospho-p38MAPK.
Cell type-specific targeted mutations of Kras and Pten document proliferation arrest in granulosa cells versus oncogenic insult to ovarian surface epithelial cells.
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