Gene expression profiling of CD34(+) cells from patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms

Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) are clonal disorders characterized by the increased proliferation of hematopoietic stem cell precursors and mature blood cells. Mutations of Janus kinase 2 (JAK2), Calreticulin (CALR) and MPL (myeloproliferative leukemia virus) are key driver mutations in MPN. However, the molecular profile of triple negative MPN has been a subject of ambiguity over the past few years. Mutations of, methylcytosine dioxygenase TET2, polycomb group protein ASXL1 and histone-lysine N-methyltransferase EZH2 genes have accounted for certain subsets of triple negative MPNs but the driving cause for majority of cases is still unexplored. The present study performed a microarray-based transcriptomic profile analysis of bone marrow-derived CD34(+) cells from seven MPN samples. A total of 21,448 gene signatures were obtained, which were further filtered into 472 upregulated and 202 downregulated genes. Gene ontology and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis highlighted an upregulation of genes involved in cell cycle and chromatin modification in JAK2V617F negative vs. positive MPN samples. Out of the upregulated genes, seven were associated with the hematopoietic stem cell signature, while forty-seven were associated with the embryonic stem cell signature. The majority of the genes identified were under the control of NANOG and E2F4 transcription factors. The PPI network indicated a strong interaction between chromatin modifiers and cell cycle genes, such as histone-lysine N-methyltransferase SUV39H1, SWI/SNF complex subunit SMARCC2, SMARCE2, chromatin remodeling complex subunit SS18, tubulin β (TUBB) and cyclin dependent kinase CDK1. Among the upregulated epigenetic markers, there was a ~10-fold increase in MYB expression in JAK2V617F negative samples. A significant increase in total CD34 counts in JAK2V617F negative vs. positive samples (P<0.05) was also observed. Overall, the present data showed a distinct pattern of expression in JAK2V617F negative vs. positive samples with upregulated genes involved in epigenetic modification.