Líffræðifélag Íslands - biologia.is
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2017
Erindi/veggspjald / Talk/poster E55
Höfundar / Authors: Kimberley Anderson(1), Aðalheiður Elín Lárusdóttir(1), Kristján Hólm Gretarson(1), Erna Magnúsdóttir(1)
Starfsvettvangur / Affiliations: 1. Biomedical Centre, Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland.
Kynnir / Presenter: Kimberley Anderson
The transcriptional repressor B-lymphocyte induced maturation protein 1 (BLIMP1) plays an essential role in both normal and multiple myeloma plasma cell survival. Recent data from our group demonstrate a novel role for BLIMP1 in mediating cell survival in Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia (WM). Knock-down of BLIMP1 in WM cell lines led to an increase in apoptosis and de-repression of pro-apoptotic target genes. Our data show reciprocal regulation of BLIMP1 and repressive histone methyltransferase EZH2 in WM cells. In addition, our preliminary data as well as published data in mouse pre-plasmablasts indicate that BLIMP1 and EZH2 physically interact. In mouse germ cells and embryonic stem cells they show a highly overlapping binding pattern. To see if they share the same targets in WM and myeloma, we are currently performing genome-wide location analysis to compare binding profiles of BLIMP1 and EZH2 in WM and myeloma cell lines. We are also performing RNA sequencing following knock-down of both BLIMP1 and EZH2 to identify further targets of transcriptional regulation in WM, which may shed light on the observed phenotype. Investigating the mechanism of BLIMP1 mediated survival in WM may help to elucidate the molecular processes underlying the disease and point towards novel therapeutic approaches.