A growing body of data suggests the importance of epigenetic mechanisms in cancer. Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) has been implicated in self-renewal and cancer progression, and its components are overexpressed in many cancers. However, its role in cancer development and progression remains unclear. We used conditional alleles for the PRC2 components enhancer of zeste 2 (Ezh2) and embryonic ectoderm development (Eed) to characterize the role of PRC2 function in leukemia development and progression. Compared with wild-type leukemia, Ezh2-null MLL-AF9-mediated acute myeloid leukemia (AML) failed to accelerate upon secondary transplantation. However, Ezh2-null leukemias maintained self-renewal up to the third round of transplantation, indicating that Ezh2 is not strictly required for MLL-AF9 AML, but plays a role in leukemia progression. Genome-wide analyses of PRC2-mediated trimethylation of histone 3 demonstrated locus-specific persistence of H3K27me3 despite inactivation of Ezh2, suggesting partial compensation by Ezh1. In contrast, inactivation of the essential PRC2 gene, Eed, led to complete ablation of PRC2 function, which was incompatible with leukemia growth. Gene expression array analyses indicated more profound gene expression changes in Eed-null compared with Ezh2-null leukemic cells, including down-regulation of Myc target genes and up-regulation of PRC2 targets. Manipulating PRC2 function may be of therapeutic benefit in AML. epigenetics | mouse model | polycomb group proteins | myeloid-lymphoid leukemia protein P olycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) has been implicated in development and cancer (1, 2). PRC2 is composed of the core components embryonic ectoderm development (EED), suppressor of zeste 12 (SUZ12), and a SET-domain methyltransferase, either enhancer of zeste 2 (EZH2) or enhancer of zeste 1 (EZH1) (3). The PRC2 complex catalyzes the di-and trimethylation of lysine residue 27 of histone 3 (H3K27me3), a repressive chromatin mark (4). Overexpression of EZH2 has been correlated with prostate cancer progression (5). Follow-up studies have confirmed and expanded these results for other cancer types, mainly solid tumors. In the hematopoietic system, forced expression of Ezh2 increases serial transplantation potential in hematopoietic stem cells (6) and enhances transformation in a model of multiple myeloma (7). Intriguingly, heterozygous loss of function of EZH2 has been associated with adverse prognosis in myelofibrosis (8), and heterozygous and homozygous inactivation of EZH2 has been described in myelodysplastic syndromes and more recently in Tlineage lymphoblastic leukemia (9-12). In contrast, EZH2 alterations appear to be rare events in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). How to reconcile these findings on a mechanistic level is unclear. Given the heterogeneity of clinical samples, elucidating the complex role of PRC2 biology in cancer will be aided by studies in genetically defined animal models (13).Loss of function of PRC2 has been evaluated in several cancer models (14, 15). However, shRNA...