Splicing factor YBX1 mediates persistence of JAK2-mutated neoplasms

Janus kinases (JAKs) mediate responses to cytokines, hormones and growth factors in haematopoietic cells 1 , 2 . The JAK gene JAK2 is frequently mutated in the ageing haematopoietic system 3 , 4 and in haematopoietic cancers 5 . JAK2 mutations constitutively activate downstream signalling and are drivers of myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN). In clinical use, JAK inhibitors have mixed effects on the overall disease burden of JAK2 -mutated clones 6 , 7 , prompting us to investigate the mechanism underlying disease persistence. Here, by in-depth phosphoproteome profiling, we identify proteins involved in mRNA processing as targets of mutant JAK2. We found that inactivation of YBX1 , a post-translationally modified target of JAK2, sensitizes cells that persist despite treatment with JAK inhibitors to apoptosis and results in RNA mis-splicing, enrichment for retained introns and disruption of the transcriptional control of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signalling. In combination with pharmacological JAK inhibition, YBX1 inactivation induces apoptosis in JAK2-dependent mouse and primary human cells, causing regression of the malignant clones in vivo, and inducing molecular remission. This identifies and validates a cell-intrinsic mechanism whereby differential protein phosphorylation causes splicing-dependent alterations of JAK2–ERK signalling and the maintenance of JAK2 V617F malignant clones. Therapeutic targeting of YBX1-dependent ERK signalling in combination with JAK2 inhibition could thus eradicate cells harbouring mutations in JAK2 . Inhibition of YBX1, a downstream target of the Janus kinase JAK2, sensitizes myeloproliferative neoplasm cells to JAK and could provide a means to eradicate such cells in human haematopoietic cancers.