Effects of the NUP98-DDX10 oncogene on primary human CD34+ cells: role of a conserved helicase motif

NUP98 gene rearrangements occur in acute myeloid leukemia and result in the expression of fusion proteins. One of the most frequent is NUP98–DDX10 that fuses a portion of NUP98 to a portion of DDX10, a putative DEAD-box RNA helicase. Here, we show that NUP98–DDX10 dramatically increases proliferation and self-renewal of primary human CD34+ cells, and disrupts their erythroid and myeloid differentiation. It localizes to their nuclei and extensively deregulates gene expression. Comparison to another leukemogenic NUP98 fusion, NUP98–HOXA9, reveals a number of genes deregulated by both oncoproteins, including HOX genes, COX-2 , MYCN , ANGPT1 , REN , HEY1 , SOX4 and others. These genes may account for the similar leukemogenic properties of NUP98 fusion oncogenes. The YIHRAGRTAR sequence in the DDX10 portion of NUP98–DDX10 represents a major motif shared by DEAD-box RNA helicases that is required for ATP binding, RNA-binding and helicase functions. Mutating this motif diminished the in vitro transforming ability of NUP98–DDX10, indicating that it has a role in leukemogenesis. These data show for the first time the in vitro transforming ability of NUP98–DDX10 and show that it is partially dependent on one of the consensus helicase motifs of DDX10. They also point to common pathways that may underlie leukemogenesis by different NUP98 fusions.