The SKI proto-oncogene enhances the in vivo repopulation of hematopoietic stem cells and causes myeloproliferative disease.

The proto-oncogene SKI is highly expressed in human myeloid leukemia and also in murine hematopoietic stem cells. However, its operative relevance in these cells remains elusive. We have over-expressed SKI to define its intrinsic role in hematopoiesis and myeloid neoplasms, which resulted in a robust competitive advantage upon transplantation, a complete dominance of the stem and progenitor compartments, and a marked enhancement of myeloid differentiation at the expense of other lineages. Accordingly, enforced expression of SKI induced a gene signature associated with hematopoietic stem cells and myeloid differentiation, as well as hepatocyte growth factor signaling. Here we demonstrate that, in contrast to what has generally been assumed, the significant impact of SKI on hematopoiesis is independent of its ability to inhibit TGF-beta signaling. Instead, myeloid progenitors expressing SKI are partially dependent on functional hepatocyte growth factor signaling. Collectively our results demonstrate that SKI is an important regulator of hematopoietic stem cell activity and its overexpression leads to myeloproliferative disease.

Modeling distinct osteosarcoma subtypes in vivo using Cre:lox and lineage-restricted transgenic shRNA.

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary cancer of bone and one that predominantly affects children and adolescents. Osteoblastic osteosarcoma represents the major subtype of this tumor, with approximately equal representation of fibroblastic and chondroblastic subtypes. We and others have previously described murine models of osteosarcoma based on osteoblast-restricted Cre:lox deletion of Trp53 (p53) and Rb1 (Rb), resulting in a phenotype most similar to fibroblastic osteosarcoma in humans. We now report a model of the most prevalent form of human osteosarcoma, the osteoblastic subtype. In contrast to other osteosarcoma models that have used Cre:lox mediated gene deletion, this model was generated through shRNA-based knockdown of p53. As is the case with the human disease the shRNA tumors most frequently present in the long bones and preferentially disseminate to the lungs; feature less consistently modeled using Cre:lox approaches. Our approach allowed direct comparison of the in vivo consequences of targeting the same genetic drivers using two different technologies, Cre:lox and shRNA. This demonstrated that the effects of Cre:lox and shRNA mediated knock-down are qualitatively different, at least in the context of osteosarcoma, and yielded distinct subtypes of osteosarcoma. Through the use of complementary genetic modification strategies we have established a model of the most common clinical subtype of osteosarcoma that was not previously represented and more fully recapitulated the clinical spectrum of this cancer.

Darbepoietin-alfa has comparable erythropoietic stimulatory effects to recombinant erythropoietin whilst preserving the bone marrow microenvironment.

Erythropoiesis stimulating agents are widely used for the treatment of anemia. Recently, we reported erythroid expansion with impaired B lymphopoiesis and loss of trabecular bone in C57BL/6 mice following ten days of treatment with low-dose short acting recombinant human erythropoietin. We have assessed erythropoietin against longer-acting darbepoietin-alfa at a comparable erythroid stimulatory dosage regime. Darbepoietin-alfa and erythropoietin induced similar in vivo erythropoietic expansion. Both agents induced an expansion of the colony-forming unit-erythroid populations. However, unlike erythropoietin, darbepoietin-alfa did not impair bone marrow B lymphopoiesis. Strikingly the bone loss observed with erythropoietin was not apparent following darbepoietin-alfa treatment. This analysis demonstrates that whilst darbepoietin-alfa has similar in vivo erythropoietic potency to erythropoietin, it preserves the bone marrow microenvironment. Thus erythropoietin and darbepoietin-alfa manifest different action showing that erythropoiesis stimulating agents have differential non-erythroid effects dependent on their duration of action.

Erythropoietin couples erythropoiesis, B-lymphopoiesis, and bone homeostasis within the bone marrow microenvironment.

Erythropoietin (Epo) has been used in the treatment of anemia resulting from numerous etiologies, including renal disease and cancer. However, its effects are controversial and the expression pattern of the Epo receptor (Epo-R) is debated. Using in vivo lineage tracing, we document that within the hematopoietic and mesenchymal lineage, expression of Epo-R is essentially restricted to erythroid lineage cells. As expected, adult mice treated with a clinically relevant dose of Epo had expanded erythropoiesis because of amplification of committed erythroid precursors. Surprisingly, we also found that Epo induced a rapid 26% loss of the trabecular bone volume and impaired B-lymphopoiesis within the bone marrow microenvironment. Despite the loss of trabecular bone, hematopoietic stem cell populations were unaffected. Inhibition of the osteoclast activity with bisphosphonate therapy blocked the Epo-induced bone loss. Intriguingly, bisphosphonate treatment also reduced the magnitude of the erythroid response to Epo. These data demonstrate a previously unrecognized in vivo regulatory network coordinating erythropoiesis, B-lymphopoiesis, and skeletal homeostasis. Importantly, these findings may be relevant to the clinical application of Epo.