A mouse model of human ZNF198-fibroblast growth factor receptor-1 (FGFR1) stem cell leukemia lymphoma has been developed to investigate mechanisms of oncogenesis and progression. Using array-based comparative genomic hybridization, we followed disease progression after serial transplantation of ZNF198-FGFR1-transformed stem cells that give rise to a distinct myeloproliferative disorder and T-lymphoblastic leukemia. A consistent, frequently homozygous, chr14:53880459-55011545 deletion, containing the T-cell receptor ␣ and ␦ genes, was identified in the bone marrow, spleen, and lymph nodes in all cases. The absence of cell-surface T-cell receptor ␣ in tumor cells precludes CD3 recruitment, resulting in loss of a functional T-cell receptor complex, supporting the idea that prevention of maturation of CD4 ؉ / CD8 ؉ double-positive immature T cells is important in ZNF198-FGFR1 disease development. Up-regulation of the B-cell line 2, interleukin 7 receptor ␣ and interleuking 2 receptor ␣ prosurvival genes in these undifferentiated tumor precursor cells suggests one mechanism that allows them to escape apoptosis in the thymus. Thus, we have defined an important event in the process of ZNF198-
IntroductionHuman stem cell leukemia-lymphoma syndrome (SCLL), also known as 8p11 myeloproliferative syndrome, is a rare atypical myeloproliferative disorder. SCLL constitutes a clinical phenotype with features of both lymphoma and eosinophilic myeloproliferative disorders and is characterized by a reciprocal chromosome translocation, resulting in a chimeric protein that activates the kinase domain of the fibroblast growth factor receptor-1 (FGFR1). 1 To date, at least 8 gene partners have been shown to fuse to FGFR1, including ZNF198 on 13q12, 2,3 CEP110 on 9q33, 4 and FOP on 6q27 5 (see Tefferi and Gilliland 1 for review). The most commonly observed translocation is the t(8;13) (p11;q12), in which the zinc finger domain of ZNF198 is fused to the intracellular kinase domain of FGFR1. 2,3,6 Hepatosplenomegaly is characteristic of these myeloproliferative disorder patients, and almost all show T-lymphoblastic lymphoma, except for one case with B-cell acute lymphoblastic lymphoma. 7 The clinical course of SCLL is aggressive, with rapid transformation to acute myeloid leukemia and lymphoblastic lymphoma of common T-cell origin. [7][8][9][10][11] Treatment with conventional chemotherapy is often not effective, 12,13 and allogeneic bone marrow (BM) transplantation seems to be the only potentially curative therapeutic option. 7 In SCLL, both myeloid and lymphoid lineage cells exhibited the 8p11 translocation, suggesting a stem cell origin. The FGFR1 fusion protein in SCLL results in the constitutive and ligandindependent activitation of the FGFR1 signal transduction pathway, and is believed to be essential for disease pathogenesis, as evidenced in the clinical cases and murine models. 14,15 How the ZNF198-FGFR1 fusion kinase results in disease progression, however, remains unclear, as does its relationship with the development of concu...