Transgenic mice overexpressing murine thrombopoietin develop myelofibrosis and osteosclerosis.

Thrombopoietin (TPO) regulates megakaryocytopoiesis and platelet production in vivo and in vitro. Exogenous overexpression of TPO in vivo by viral-mediated gene transfer induced bone marrow (BM) fibrosis and osteosclerosis. On the other hand, transgenic mice (Tg) overexpressing TPO using a liver-specific apolipoprotein E (Apo-E) promoter did not exhibit myelofibrosis or osteosclerosis. These discrepancies in phenotype are not fully understood. Then we have investigated the consequences of long-term in vivo overexpression of TPO in a mouse model. Murine TPO Tg mice driven by the IgH promoter were generated. The number of platelets and neutrophils in peripheral blood, and the number of megakaryocytes and granulocytic immature cells in the BM was elevated, together with the number of progenitor cells for megakaryocyte and myeloid cells. TPO Tg mice demonstrated anemia but the number of progenitor cells for the erythrocyte was increased. TPO Tg mice developed myelofibrosis and osteosclerosis as they aged with extramedullary hematopoiesis in the spleen. As plasma transforming growth factors (TGF)-beta1 and osteoprotegerin (OPG) levels were higher in TPO Tg mice than in wild-type mice, the development of myelofibrosis and osteosclerosis depends on local TPO levels in BM and might be due to elevated TGF-beta1 and OPG.

A novel mutation in the juxtamembrane intracellular sequence of the granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) receptor gene in a patient with severe congenital neutropenia augments GCSF proliferation activity but not through the MAP kinase cascade.

We analyzed the structure of the granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) receptor gene in a 6-year-old female patient with severe congenital neutropenia (SCN) who experienced severe recurrent infections since 1 month of age. There is no family history of any similar disease. When the patient was 4 months old, she began receiving treatment with recombinant human G-CSF that resulted in a small increase in the neutrophil count sufficient for the prevention and treatment of bacterial infection. An analysis of complementary DNA for the patient's G-CSF receptor revealed a 3-base pair deletion in the juxtamembrane intracellular sequence. This deletion at the beginning of exon 16 was thought to be caused by alternative splicing; analysis of the DNA revealed a G-to-A point mutation of the final nucleotide of intron 15. To evaluate the functional activity of the G-CSF receptor with this 3-base pair deletion of the juxtamembrane region, we transfected this G-CSF receptor mutant into an interleukin 3-dependent cell line, BAF/3. BAF/3 cells expressing the mutant G-CSF receptor showed augmented proliferation activity in response to G-CSF compared with cells having the wild-type G-CSF receptor. Although the proliferation signal of G-CSF in normal hematopoiesis is transduced through the activation of MAP kinases, this G-CSF receptor mutant showed decreased activation of ERKI/2 in response to G-CSF compared with the wild type, but the transduced sig-nal for Stat3 activation by G-CSF was of the same magnitude as that of the wild-type G-CSF receptor. This result means that the augmented proliferation activity in response to G-CSF that we observed in cells having the G-CSF receptor gene with the 3-base pair deletion is transduced through an intracellular signaling pathway other than MAP kinase. Because SCN patients with a mutation in the G-CSF receptor frequently develop leukemia, this 3-base pair deletion in the juxtamembrane sequence of the G-CSF receptor gene in this patient may be one step in the course of leukemic transformation.

Signal transducers and activators of transcription 3 augments the transcriptional activity of CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein alpha in granulocyte colony-stimulating factor signaling pathway.

The Janus kinase (Jak)-Stat pathway plays an essential role in cytokine signaling. Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) promotes granulopoiesis and granulocytic differentiation, and Stat3 is the principle Stat protein activated by G-CSF. Upon treatment with G-CSF, the interleukin-3-dependent cell line 32D clone 3(32Dcl3) differentiates into neutrophils, and 32Dcl3 cells expressing dominant-negative Stat3 (32Dcl3/DNStat3) proliferate in G-CSF without differentiation. Gene expression profile and quantitative PCR analysis of G-CSF-stimulated cell lines revealed that the expression of C/EBPalpha was up-regulated by the activation of Stat3. In addition, activated Stat3 bound to CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein (C/EBP)alpha, leading to the enhancement of the transcription activity of C/EBPalpha. Conditional expression of C/EBPalpha in 32Dcl3/DNStat3 cells after G-CSF stimulation abolishes the G-CSF-dependent cell proliferation and induces granulocytic differentiation. Although granulocyte-specific genes, such as the G-CSF receptor, lysozyme M, and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin precursor (NGAL) are regulated by Stat3, only NGAL was induced by the restoration of C/EBPalpha after stimulation with G-CSF in 32Dcl3/DNStat3 cells. These results show that one of the major roles of Stat3 in the G-CSF signaling pathway is to augment the function of C/EBPalpha, which is essential for myeloid differentiation. Additionally, cooperation of C/EBPalpha with other Stat3-activated proteins are required for the induction of some G-CSF responsive genes including lysozyme M and the G-CSF receptor.