Perturbations to the Wnt signaling pathway have been implicated in a large proportion of human hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs). Activating b-catenin mutations and loss of function mutations in Axin1 are thought to be functionally equivalent. We examined the Wnt pathway in HCC by comparing the expression of b-catenin target genes and the level of b-catenin-dependent transcriptional activation, in 45 HCC tumors and four cell lines. Among these samples, b-catenin and AXIN1 were mutated in 20 and seven cases, respectively. We found a significant correlation between activated b-catenin mutations and overexpression of mRNA for the target genes glutamine synthetase (GS), G-protein-coupled receptor (GPR)49 and glutamate transporter (GLT)-1 (P ¼ 0.0001), but not for the genes ornithine aminotransferase, LECT2, c-myc and cyclin D1. We also showed that GS is a good immunohistochemical marker of b-catenin activation in HCC. However, we observed no induction of GS, GPR49 or GLT-1 in the five inactivated Axin1 tumors. b-Catenin-dependent transcriptional activation in two Axin1-mutated HCC cell lines was much weaker than in b-catenin-mutated cell lines. Our results strongly suggest that in HCC, contrary to expectation, the loss of function of Axin1 is not equivalent to the gain of function of b-catenin. Our results also suggest that the tumor suppressor function of Axin1 in HCC may be related to another, non-Wnt pathway.
Insertional mutagenesis of the spi-1 gene is associated with the emergence of malignant proerythroblasts during Friend virus-induced acute erythroleukemia. To determine the role of spi-1/PU.1 in the genesis of leukemia, we generated spi-1 transgenic mice. In one founder line the transgene was overexpressed as an unexpected-size transcript in various mouse tissues. Homozygous transgenic animals gave rise to live-born offspring, but 50% of the animals developed a multistep erythroleukemia within 1.5 to 6 months of birth whereas the remainder survived without evidence of disease. At the onset of the disease, mice became severely anemic. Their hematopoietic tissues were massively invaded with nontumorigenic proerythroblasts that express a high level of Spi-1 protein. These transgenic proerythroblasts are partially blocked in differentiation and strictly dependent on erythropoietin for their proliferation both in vivo and in vitro. A complete but transient regression of the disease was observed after erythrocyte transfusion, suggesting that the constitutive expression of spi-1 is related to the block of the differentiation of erythroid precursors. At relapse, erythropoietin-independent malignant proerythroblasts arose. Growth factor autonomy could be partially explained by the autocrine secretion of erythropoietin; however, other genetic events appear to be necessary to confer the full malignant phenotype. These results reveal that overexpression of spi-1 is essential for malignant erythropoiesis and does not alter other hematopoietic lineages.
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