PreprintCited by 463Chromatin Remodeling and CancerGenomics and Chromatin DynamicsAcute Myeloid Leukemia Research

Role of SWI/SNF in acute leukemia maintenance and enhancer-mediated Myc regulation

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Shi, Junwei, Whyte, Warren A., Zepeda-Mendoza, Cinthya J., Milazzo, Joseph P., Shen, Chen, Roe, Jae-Seok, Minder, Jessica L., Mercan, Fatih +17 more·2013·Genes & Development

Abstract

Cancer cells frequently depend on chromatin regulatory activities to maintain a malignant phenotype. Here, we show that leukemia cells require the mammalian SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex for their survival and aberrant self-renewal potential. While Brg1, an ATPase subunit of SWI/SNF, is known to suppress tumor formation in several cell types, we found that leukemia cells instead rely on Brg1 to support their oncogenic transcriptional program, which includes Myc as one of its key targets. To account for this context-specific function, we identify a cluster of lineage-specific enhancers located 1.7 Mb downstream from Myc that are occupied by SWI/SNF as well as the BET protein Brd4. Brg1 is required at these distal elements to maintain transcription factor occupancy and for long-range chromatin looping interactions with the Myc promoter. Notably, these distal Myc enhancers coincide with a region that is focally amplified in ∼3% of acute myeloid leukemias. Together, these findings define a leukemia maintenance function for SWI/SNF that is linked to enhancer-mediated gene regulation, providing general insights into how cancer cells exploit transcriptional coactivators to maintain oncogenic gene expression programs.

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Authors
Shi, J., Whyte, W. A., Zepeda-Mendoza, C. J., Milazzo, J. P., Shen, C., Roe, J.-S., Minder, J. L., Mercan, F., Wang, E., Eckersley-Maslin, M. A., Campbell, A. E., Kawaoka, S., Shareef, S., Zhu, Z., Kendall, J., Muhar, M., Haslinger, C., Yu, M., Roeder, R. G., Wigler, M. H., Blobel, G. A., Zuber, J., Spector, D. L., Young, R. A., & Vakoc, C. R.
Affiliations
  • Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (US)
  • Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research (US)
  • Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (US)
  • Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (AT)
  • Boehringer Ingelheim (Austria) (AT)
  • Rockefeller University (US)
Corresponding author
Vakoc, Christopher R.
Venue
Genes & Development
Published
2013-11-27
Volume
27
Issue
24
Pages
2648-2662
ISSN
  • 0890-9369 (ISSN-L)
  • 1549-5477
OpenAlex
W2148261329
Cited by
463
References
58
Citations by year
2026: 14 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 29 · 2023: 36 · 2022: 40 · 2021: 61 · 2020: 43 · 2019: 35 · 2018: 37 · 2017: 41 · 2016: 38 · 2015: 42 · 2014: 20 · 2013: 1
Type
posted content
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by-nc
Locations
  • Genes & Development (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Institutional Repository (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion)
  • DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
Funders
  • F. M. Kirby Foundation
  • V Foundation for Cancer Research
  • Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer
  • Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
  • Edward P. Evans Foundation
  • Wellcome Trust
  • James N. Kirby Foundation
  • National Institutes of Health
  • U.S. Public Health Service (42694)
  • National Human Genome Research Institute (R01HG002668)
  • National Cancer Institute (CA455087, NCI RO1 CA174793, R01CA174793, P01CA013106)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R01GM042694, 42694)
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R37DK058044)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Chromatin Remodeling and Cancer
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Hematology › Acute Myeloid Leukemia Research
Keywords
SWI/SNF complex, SMARCA4, acute myeloid leukemia, MYC regulation, BRD4, leukemia maintenance, self-renewal, distal enhancers, focal amplification, transcriptional coactivator, oncogenic transcriptional programs
MeSH terms
DNA Helicases, DNA-Binding Proteins, Enhancer Elements, Genetic, Humans, Nuclear Proteins, Promoter Regions, Genetic, Protein Binding, Transcription Factors, Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc, Cell Line, Tumor, Cell Proliferation, Gene Knockdown Techniques

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