Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0023418 (leukemia)
 93,477 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The SCL/TAL1 gene was originally identified by virtue of its rearrangement and transcriptional activation in patients with T cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. It encodes a helix-loop-helix transcription factor, is not normally expressed in T cells, but is expressed in erythroid, mast, megakaryocytic and progenitor cells. Over-expression of sense and antisense constructs have implicated SCL as a positive regulator of erythroid differentiation. In addition we have previously shown that SCL mRNA levels undergo biphasic modulation during induced erythroid differentiation of murine erythroleukaemia (MEL) cells with a transient early fall followed by a late rise. In this paper we have studied expression of the SCL protein during erythroid differentiation and also the molecular basis for the raised SCL mRNA levels that accompany erythroid differentiation. We have generated an anti-SCL antiserum and used it to demonstrate that an early transient fall in SCL protein does not occur during induced differentiation of MEL cells. Furthermore SCL protein levels underwent a late fall in three different models of erythroid differentiation and in two models of myeloid differentiation. The fall in SCL protein levels during induced erythroid differentiation contrasted with the concomitant marked rise in SCL mRNA levels. These observations have significant implications for the mechanism by which SCL may regulate erythropoiesis. In addition we have demonstrated that the stability of SCL mRNA was only marginally enhanced during erythroid differentiation of MEL cells, whereas the activity of a luciferase reporter construct driven by the SCL promoter was increased 11- to 17-fold. Up-regulation of transcription therefore accounted for most of the increase in SCL mRNA levels during erythroid differentiation.
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PMID:Discordant regulation of SCL/TAL-1 mRNA and protein during erythroid differentiation. 762 20

Activation of the SCL (or TAL-1) gene as a result of chromosomal translocation or deletion is a frequent molecular lesion in acute T-cell leukemia. By virtue of its membership in the basic helix-loop-helix family of transcription factors, the SCL gene is a candidate to regulate events in hematopoietic differentiation. We have used polyclonal antibody raised against a bacterial expressed malE-SCL fusion protein to characterize SCL protein expression in postimplantation embryos and in neonatal and adult mice. SCL protein was detected at day 7.5 post coitum at both embryonic and extraembryonic sites, approximately 24 hours before the formation of recognizable hematopoietic elements. Expression then localized to blood islands of the yolk sac followed by localization to fetal liver and spleen, paralleling the hematopoietic activity of these tissues during development. SCL protein was detected in erythroblasts in fetal and adult spleen, myeloid cells and megakaryocytes in spleen and bone marrow, mast cells in skin, and in rare cells in fetal and adult thymus. In addition, SCL protein was noted in endothelial progenitors in blood islands and in endothelial cells and angioblasts in a number of organs at times coincident with their vascularization. SCL expression was also observed in other nonhematopoietic cell types in the developing skeletal and nervous systems. These results show that SCL expression is one of the earliest markers of mammalian hematopoietic development and are compatible with a role for this transcription factor in terminal differentiation of the erythroid and megakaryocytic lineages. SCL expression by cells in the thymus suggests that the gene may be active at some stage of T-cell differentiation and may be relevant to its involvement by chromosomal rearrangements in T-lymphoid leukemias. Finally, expression of the gene in developing brain, cartilage, and vascular endothelium indicates SCL may have actions in neural development, osteogenesis, and vasculogenesis, as well as in hematopoietic differentiation.
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PMID:The SCL/TAL-1 gene is expressed in progenitors of both the hematopoietic and vascular systems during embryogenesis. 811 24

We have determined the molecular structure of the gene encoding the murine SCL protein (helix-loop-helix transcription factor). The gene consists of seven exons spanning approx. 20 kb. The intron/exon structure, coding region sequences and sequences present at the splice junctions were highly conserved between mouse and human. The 5' flanking sequence contains CCAAT and TATA consensus motifs with several putative binding sites for SP-1, AP-1 and GATA-1. Multiple mRNA transcripts were generated by alternate exon usage. The transcripts differed primarily in the 5' untranslated region (UTR), but potentially also encode a smaller SCL protein. Despite the high degree of conservation between species, the heptamer/nonamer signal sequences in the 5' region of the human SCL gene (the frequent site of SCL disruption in human leukemia) were poorly represented in the murine sequence. In keeping with this, structural abnormalities of murine SCL were uncommon in murine leukemias that express the SCL transcript.
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PMID:Structure of the gene encoding the murine SCL protein. 812 23

SCL protein production was examined in a variety of hemopoietic cell lines by immunoblotting using specific polyclonal antisera. SCL protein was detected in erythroid, megakaryocyte, mast and early myeloid cell lines, as well as in several lymphoid leukemia cell lines which are known to harbor SCL gene rearrangements. In most cell lines, proteins of molecular weight 49 and 44 kDa were found, however two myeloid cell lines expressed only lower molecular weight species of 24 and 22 kDa. This size discrepancy appeared to be due to cell-specific translational regulation, since overexpression of a retrovirally transfected SCL gene yielded the higher molecular weight forms in most cell lines (GP+E-86, AT2.5, M1) but only the 22 kDa form in the myeloid cell line, WEHI-3B/D+. Overexpression of full-length SCL protein in the lymphoid cell lines, SupT1 and Raji, did not alter cell phenotype and there was no evidence for autoregulation of SCL transcription. The restricted pattern of SCL protein synthesis is consistent with the restricted expression of SCL mRNA documented previously. In addition, the present results indicate that SCL protein size was determined by regulation of translation in a cell-specific manner.
Leukemia 1994 Jan
PMID:The SCL protein displays cell-specific heterogeneity in size. 828 74

An increased number of circulating CD34+ hematopoietic progenitors with a prominent proliferation of the megakaryocytic (MK) population are the hallmarks of the myeloproliferation in myelofibrosis with myeloid metaplasia (MMM). Analyzing the potential contribution of the stem cell leukemia (SCL) gene in MMM myeloproliferation was doubly interesting for SCL is expressed both in primitive-uncommitted progenitor cells and erythroid/MK cells, its transcription differentially initiating from promoter 1b and 1a, respectively. Our results show that: (i) the expression of SCL transcript is increased in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from patients; (ii) SCL gene transcription is altered in MMM CD34+ progenitor cells sorted into CD34+CD41+ and CD34+CD41- subpopulations. Actually, in patients, SCL transcription initiated at promoter 1b is restricted to primitive CD34+CD41- progenitor cells, while it is detectable in both cell subsets from healthy subjects; (iii) the full-length isoform of SCL protein is present in patients' CD34+ cells and in PBMC; in the latter the SCL-expressing cells mainly belong to the MK lineage in which its sublocalization is both nuclear and cytoplasmic, which contrasts with the sole nuclear staining observed in normal MK cells. Our demonstration of altered expression and transcription of SCL in patients' hematopoietic cells emphasizes the possible contribution of this regulatory nuclear factor to the hematopoietic dysregulation, which is a feature of myelofibrosis with myeloid metaplasia.
Leukemia 2003 Oct
PMID:Altered transcription of the stem cell leukemia gene in myelofibrosis with myeloid metaplasia. 1451 50