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Mol. Cell. Biol., 08 1997, 4782-4791, Vol 17, No. 8
G Bain, I Engel, EC Robanus Maandag, HP te Riele, JR Voland, LL Sharp, J Chun, B Huey, D Pinkel and C Murre
The E2A gene products, E12 and E47, are critical for proper early B- cell
development and commitment to the B-cell lineage. Here we reveal a new role
for E2A in T-lymphocyte development. Loss of E2A activity results in a
partial block at the earliest stage of T-lineage development. This early
T-cell phenotype precedes the development of a T-cell lymphoma which occurs
between 3 and 9 months of age. The thymomas are monoclonal and highly
malignant and display a cell surface phenotype similar to that of immature
thymocytes. In addition, the thymomas generally express high levels of
c-myc. As assayed by comparative genomic hybridization, each of the tumor
populations analyzed showed a nonrandom gain of chromosome 15, which
contains the c- myc gene. Taken together, the data suggest that the E2A
gene products play a role early in thymocyte development that is similar to
their function in B-lineage determination. Furthermore, the lack of E2A
results in development of T-cell malignancies, and we propose that E2A
inactivation is a common feature of a wide variety of human T-cell
proliferative disorders, including those involving the E2A heterodimeric
partners tal-1 and lyl-1.
Copyright © 1997, American Society for Microbiology
E2A deficiency leads to abnormalities in alphabeta T-cell development and to rapid development of T-cell lymphomas
Department of Biology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla 92093, USA.
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