First Author | Jacobs JJ | Year | 1999 |
Journal | Genes Dev | Volume | 13 |
Issue | 20 | Pages | 2678-90 |
PubMed ID | 10541554 | Mgi Jnum | J:58291 |
Mgi Id | MGI:1347176 | Doi | 10.1101/gad.13.20.2678 |
Citation | Jacobs JJ, et al. (1999) Bmi-1 collaborates with c-Myc in tumorigenesis by inhibiting c-Myc-induced apoptosis via INK4a/ARF. Genes Dev 13(20):2678-90 |
abstractText | The bmi-1 and myc oncogenes collaborate strongly in murine lymphomagenesis, but the basis for this collaboration was not understood. We recently identified the ink4a-ARF tumor suppressor locus as a critical downstream target of the Polycomb-group transcriptional repressor Bmi-1. Others have shown that part of Myc's ability to induce apoptosis depends on induction of p19arf. Here we demonstrate that down-regulation of ink4a-ARF by Bmi-1 underlies its ability to cooperate with Myc in tumorigenesis. Heterozygosity for bmi-1 inhibits lymphomagenesis in Emu-myc mice by enhancing c-Myc-induced apoptosis. We observe increased apoptosis in bmi-1(-/-) lymphoid organs, which can be rescued by deletion of ink4a-ARF or overexpression of bcl2. Furthermore, Bmi-1 collaborates with Myc in enhancing proliferation and transformation of primary embryo fibroblasts (MEFs) in an ink4a-ARF dependent manner, by prohibiting Myc-mediated induction of p19arf and apoptosis. We observe strong collaboration between the Emu-myc transgene and heterozygosity for ink4a-ARF, which is accompanied by loss of the wild-type ink4a-ARF allele and formation of highly aggressive B-cell lymphomas. Together, these results reinforce the critical role of Bmi-1 as a dose-dependent regulator of ink4a-ARF, which on its turn acts to prevent tumorigenesis on activation of oncogenes such as c-myc. |