CSF-1, a key regulator of mononuclear phagocyte production, is highly expressed in the skeleton by osteoblasts/osteocytes and in a number of nonskeletal tissues such as uterus, kidney and brain. The spontaneous mutant op/op mouse has been the conventional model of CSF-1 deficiency and exhibits a pleiotropic phenotype characterized by osteopetrosis, and defects in hematopoiesis, fertility and neural function. Studies to further delineate the biologic effect of CSF-1 within various tissues have been hampered by the lack of suitable models. To address this issue, we generated CSF-1 floxed/floxed mice and demonstrate that Cre-mediated recombination using Meox2Cre, a Cre line expressed in epiblast during early embryogenesis, results in mice with ubiquitous CSF-1 deficiency (CSF-1KO). Homozygous CSF-1KO mice lacked CSF-1 in all tissues and displayed, in part, a similar phenotype to op/op mice that included: failure of tooth eruption, osteopetrosis, reduced macrophage densities in reproductive and other organs and altered hematopoiesis with decreased marrow cellularity, circulating monocytes and B cell lymphopoiesis. In contrast to op/op mice, CSF-1KO mice showed elevated circulating and splenic T cells. A striking feature in CSF-1KO mice was defective osteocyte maturation, bone mineralization and osteocyte-lacunar system that was associated with reduced dentin matrix protein 1 (DMP1) expression in osteocytes. CSF-1KO mice also showed a dramatic reduction in osteomacs along the endosteal surface that may have contributed to the hematopoietic and cortical bone defects. Thus, our findings show that ubiquitous CSF-1 gene deletion using a Cre-based system recapitulates the expected osteopetrotic phenotype. Moreover, results point to a novel link between CSF-1 and osteocyte survival/function that is essential for maintaining bone mass and strength during skeletal development.

CREB-binding protein (CREBBP) is important for the cell-autonomous regulation of hematopoiesis, including the stem cell compartment. In the present study, we show that CREBBP plays an equally pivotal role in microenvironment-mediated regulation of hematopoiesis. We found that the BM microenvironment of Crebbp ؉/؊ mice was unable to properly maintain the immature stem cell and progenitor cell pools. Instead, it stimulates myeloid differentiation, which progresses into a myeloproliferation phenotype. Alterations in the BM microenvironment resulting from haploinsufficiency of Crebbp included a marked decrease in trabecular bone that was predominantly caused by increased osteoclastogenesis. Although CFU-fibroblast (CFU-F) and total osteoblast numbers were decreased, the bone formation rate was similar to that found in wild-type mice. At the molecular level, we found that the known hematopoietic modulators matrix metallo-

Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is a complex family of pre-leukemic diseases in which hematopoietic stem cell defects lead to abnormal differentiation in one or more blood lineages. Disease progression is associated with increasing genomic instability and a large proportion of patients go on to develop acute myeloid leukemia. Primarily a disease of the elderly, it can also develop following chemotherapy. We have previously reported that CREB binding protein (Crebbp) heterozygous mice have an increased incidence of hematological malignancies, and others have shown that CREBBP is one of the genes altered by chromosomal translocations found in patients suffering from therapy-related MDS. This led us to investigate whether hematopoietic tumor development in Crebbp+/- mice is preceded by a myelodysplastic phase and whether we could uncover molecular mechanisms that might contribute to its development. We report here that Crebbp+/- mice invariably develop myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative neoplasm within 9-12 months of age. They are also hypersensitive to ionizing radiation and show a marked decrease in PARP1 activity after irradiation. In addition, protein levels of XRCC1 and APEX1, key components of base excision repair machinery, are reduced in unirradiated Crebbp+/- cells or upon targeted knock down of CREBBP levels. Our results thus provide validation of a novel myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative neoplasm mouse model and, more importantly, point to defective repair of DNA damage as a contributing factor to the pathogenesis of this currently incurable disease.

1705 Myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative neoplasms (MDS/MPNs) are myeloid malignancies that display features of both MDS and MPN, but cannot be properly assigned to either MDS or MPN. It is currently not known whether it originates from the hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) compartment (like MDS), from a more committed myeloid progenitor population, or a combination thereof. Fifteen to 40% of MDS/MPN patients develop acute myeloid leukemia (AML); whether the transformation occurs in a particular cell population is also unknown. We previously demonstrated that mice heterozygous for the CREB binding protein gene (Crebbp) develop MDS/MPN at 9–12 months of age and ∼40% of them progress to develop a hematologic malignancy. Thus, Crebbp+/− mice are an excellent model to address the before mentioned questions, which is important for the development of better strategies to treat MDS/MPN. For this purpose, we harvested and combined bone marrow from 1.5-year old Crebbp+/− mice (10 donors per experiment, thereby ensuring that the marrow of ∼4 donors harbored malignant hematopoietic cells) and transplanted it into lethally irradiated, wild-type recipients. Groups of mice either received unfractionated whole bone marrow (WBM) or populations purified by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. Naive Crebbp+/− mice had demonstrated functional and/or quantitative abnormalities in long-term and short-term HSCs, common myeloid progenitors (CMPs) and granulocyte/macrophage progenitors (GMPs) and we therefore focused on these populations. All transplant recipients also received unfractionated wild-type “helper cells” to increase survival. Mice were closely monitored and those suspected of having developed a hematopoietic disease were sacrificed and their hematopoietic system analyzed. Four independent experiments were performed and data were combined for analysis. Among the 18 recipients who received Crebbp+/− WBM, 8 recipients (44%) developed an early-onset AML with myelofibrosis, 2–7 months after the transplant, which was not preceded by MDS. The other 10 recipients (56%) developed MDS/MPN, 12–18 months after the transplant. These mice displayed ineffective hematopoiesis, evidenced by a normocellular bone marrow, significant leukopenia, and trilineage dysplasia. One of these 10 Crebbp+/− WBM recipients that developed MDS/MPN subsequently progressed to AML. In contrast, none of the 15 recipients of Crebbp+/− HSCs (defined as Lin−Sca-1+c-Kit++ (LSK) cells, including long-term and short-term progenitors, as well as lymphoid-restricted progenitors) developed early-onset AML. Instead, 1 developed MDS/MPN while the remainder developed MDS by 11–17 months after the transplant, with one of them progressing to a disease resembling human mature T-cell leukemia. Transplantation of Crebbp+/− CMPs and GMPs also failed to cause early-onset AML and, as expected, gave rise to extremely low long-term reconstitution. Thus, these mice were mostly reconstituted by the co-transplanted wild-type “helper cells”. However, unexpectedly, 9 out of 24 (38%) showed <10% dysplastic cells in 1 or more lineages, while 4 (17%) developed overt MDS, i.e. >10% dysplastic cells and 2 (8%) developed MPD or AML with myelofibrosis. Control mice, i.e., recipients of wild-type BM cells remained healthy for the duration of the experiments. The results of these transplantation experiments show that in this mouse model, MDS/MPN is transplantable. However, it requires transplantation of WBM, since the transplantation of LSK cells resulted in MDS, suggesting that the microenvironment may play a crucial role in the etiology of MDS/MPN. This notion is in concordance with our previous study, demonstrating that Crebbp+/− mice transplanted with wild-type cells developed MPD that originated from the transplanted wild-type cells. This notion is further supported by the outcome of the CMP and GMP transplantation experiments, suggesting that abnormal myeloid progenitors are also important factors for MDS/MPN disease development. Moreover, malignant transformation seems to occur in a non-LSK cell that is more differentiated than CMPs and GMPs. Alternatively, malignant transformation requires all hematopoietic and non-hematopoietic cells to be present, again suggesting that MDS/MPN is a complex disease where both the hematopoietic compartment and its bone marrow microenvironment are affected. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.