Egr2/Egr3 Are Essential Tumour Suppressor Genes for Lymphomagenesis
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Egr2/Egr3 are Essential Tumour Suppressor Genes for Lymphomagenesis A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Punamdip Kaur Bhullar September 2013 Division of Biosciences School of Health Sciences and Social Care Declaration I hereby declare that the research presented in this thesis is my own work, except where otherwise specified, and has not been submitted for any other degree. Punamdip Kaur Bhullar II Abstract Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is the fifth most common cancer in the UK, accounting for 4% of all new cases. The control of lymphomagenesis still remains a challenge. Early growth response gene (Egr) 2 and 3 are zinc finger transcription factors. Egr2 plays an important role in the development of both central nervous system and lymphocytes. However the mechanism of action in lymphocytes is still unknown. In order to fully understand the function of Egr2, in lymphocytes, we developed Egr2 and 3 double knockout mice (Egr2-/-Egr3-/-) by crossbreeding lymphocyte specific Egr2 knockout mice (CD2-Egr2-/-) with Egr3 knockout mice (Egr3-/-), as previous reports suggested that Egr3 compensates for the role of Egr2. In the absence of Egr2 and 3, the homeostasis of T cells is dysregulated with hyper- homeostatic proliferation of effector like phenotype cells. More importantly the development of spontaneous B and T cell lymphoma was found in more than 70% of Egr2-/-Egr3-/- mice. The lymphoma cells from Egr2-/-Egr3-/- mice were highly proliferative and metastatically spread into other non-lymphoid organs, such as lung, liver and kidney. In additional to this lymphoma development the Egr2-/-Egr3-/- mice showed signs of chronic inflammatory disorder. This inflammatory disorder was characterised by glomerulonephritis and an increase in serum cytokines, which may provide the microenvironment for the lymphoma development. To explore the molecular mechanism of tumour development in Egr2-/-Egr3-/- mice, the transcriptional profile of Egr2 was studied by microarray and ChIP-on-chip. We found firstly that Egr2 directly binds to the promoter regions of III Ikaros and FOXO3. The deletion of Egr2 and 3 in lymphocytes led to the downregulation of Ikaros, Aiolos and FOXO3 expression. The impaired expression was found to be associated with proliferative disorder and the development of T and B cell lymphoma. Secondly Egr2 strongly inhibits STAT3 transcriptional activity by regulating SOCS3, which is a known inhibitor of STAT3. The breakdown of this regulation could be an important mechanism in lymphomagenesis. A model is proposed which defines Egr2 and Egr3 as the backbone of important tumour suppressor genes that control cell fate decision and regulates homeostasis in the lymphoid system. Thus, our results suggest that Egr2 and 3 are important regulators of lymphocyte function by their involvement in multiple cell signalling pathways, which could potentially be key genes for future cancer therapy. IV Acknowledgments Foremost, I would like to express my deep and sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Su-Ling Li for giving me the opportunity to work on such an interesting research project. Her immense knowledge, motivation and support have been of great value to me. I would also like to extend my deepest gratitude towards Professor Ping Wang for his valuable contributions and not to mention his advice and unsurpassed knowledge of immunology. I would like to thank Dr Tizong Miao, Dr Alistair Symonds and Meera for all their help, support and guidance during my time at Queen Mary and after. Thank you for always responding to my crazy emails filled with questions. Additionally, a big “thank you” to my team at Brunel, Mengya Liu, Emma Ghaffari, Ane Ogbe, Becky Omodho and Randeep Singh, you have provided me with great support and a friendly working environment. I would also like to thank Dr Predraq Slijepcevic for providing us with the telomere PNA probe. It would not have been possible to write this doctoral thesis without the help and support of the kind people around me, to only some of whom it is possible to give particular mention here. I cannot find words to express my gratitude to Sheba. This journey we have travelled together, just like a roller-coaster ride. Every high and low we have experienced together and without your support, motivation and true friendship, I cannot image what it would have been like. “Thank you Sheba”, for always being there when needed, especially during the write up of my thesis. I would also specially like to thank Dr Sahar Al-Mahdawi and Dr Chiranjeevi Sandi for their V support and advice during my PhD. Thank you Chiru for all your guidance for putting together this thesis. I take this opportunity to record my sincere thanks to my friends, whom I have made during my PhD. Dr Maryam Ojani, Sheba, Ane, Becky, Dr Gonul, Hiba, Dr Vahid Ezzatizadeh, Dr Terry Roberts, Madhavi, Azedeh, Savneet, Alpa, Julie, Jess, Emma and Naj for creating such a lively and always supportive atmosphere. I consider myself very fortunate for having an amazing family. I would like to thank a group of special people in my life who have always supported and encouraged me. Vipandip and Kulbir, Rupinder and Rajbir, Tejinder and Sandeep, Jasbir and Dalwinder. You have all been very supportive and I cannot find words enough to thank you. Finally, and most importantly, I would like to thank my parents. My father Surinder Singh and mother, Sukhwinder Kaur for raising me and making me the person I am today. Thank you for never having anything but confidence in me and always supporting my dreams. I consider myself very lucky as I have gained great parents after marriage, Gurpartap Singh and Surinder Kaur. Thank you for letting me proceed with my dreams and for the guidance and support since I have joined your family. Specially thank you to Mummy Ji for taking care of the kids and the house. Without your help I would not have been able to fulfil this dream. If I have missed anybody out, please forgive me and know that it was not intentional. VI Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my husband, Jagdeep and children, Har-Simran and Rehmath. I give my deepest expression of love and appreciation for the encouragement that you gave me and the sacrifices you made during this PhD. I hope this work can be an inspiration for my children to achieve high in their lives. VII Table of Contents DECLARATION ................................................................................................. II ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................... III ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..................................................................................... V DEDICATION ................................................................................................. VII LIST OF FIGURES........................................................................................... XIV LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................... XVII LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................ XVIII CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION .......................................................................... 1 1.1 HALLMARKS OF CANCER .................................................................................. 2 1.2 THE CELL CYCLE AND CANCER DEVELOPMENT ........................................................ 5 1.2.1 Cell Cycle Regulation ......................................................................... 5 1.2.2 Inhibitors of CDK ............................................................................... 7 1.2.3 Self-Sufficiency in Growth Signals ...................................................... 8 1.2.4 Evading Growth Suppressors ............................................................. 9 1.2.5 Evasion of Apoptosis ....................................................................... 10 1.2.6 Telomere Length – Limitless Replication .......................................... 14 1.2.6.1 Telomerease .................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.2.7 Inflammation and Cancer ................................................................ 18 1.3 LYMPHOMA ............................................................................................... 23 1.3.1 Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (NHL) ..................................................... 23 VIII 1.4 IMMUNE SYSTEM ........................................................................................ 25 1.4.1 Generation of Antigen Receptor Diversity ........................................ 26 1.4.2 Lymphoid Haematopoiesis .............................................................. 28 1.5 B LYMPHOCYTE DEVELOPMENT ....................................................................... 29 1.5.1 B cell maturation and subset development ...................................... 33 1.5.2 B cell Tolerance ............................................................................... 35 1.5.2.1 Clonal Deletion ........................................................................ 35 1.5.2.2 Clonal Anergy .......................................................................... 36 1.5.2.3 Receptor Editing ...................................................................... 36 1.5.3 Homeostatic proliferation of B cells ................................................. 37 1.6 T CELL DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................. 38 1.6.1 Positive Selection and Negative