Cooperation between KDM6B overexpression and TET2 deficiency in the pathogenesis of chronic myelomonocytic leukemia

Loss-of-function TET2 mutations are recurrent somatic lesions in chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML). KDM6B encodes a histone demethylase involved in innate immune regulation that is overexpressed in CMML. We conducted genomic and transcriptomic analyses in treatment naïve CMML patients and observed that the patients carrying both TET2 mutations and KDM6B overexpression constituted 18% of the cohort and 42% of patients with TET2 mutations. We therefore hypothesized that KDM6B overexpression cooperated with TET2 deficiency in CMML pathogenesis. We developed a double-lesion mouse model with both aberrations, and discovered that the mice exhibited a more prominent CMML-like phenotype than mice with either Tet2 deficiency or KDM6B overexpression alone. The phenotype includes monocytosis, anemia, splenomegaly, and increased frequencies and repopulating activity of bone marrow (BM) hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). Significant transcriptional alterations were identified in double-lesion mice, which were associated with activation of proinflammatory signals and repression of signals maintaining genome stability. Finally, KDM6B inhibitor reduced BM repopulating activity of double-lesion mice and tumor burden in mice transplanted with BM-HSPCs from CMML patients with TET2 mutations. These data indicate that TET2 deficiency and KDM6B overexpression cooperate in CMML pathogenesis of and that KDM6B could serve as a potential therapeutic target in this disease.