Tribbles homolog 2 (Trib2) was identified as a downregulated transcript in leukemic cells undergoing growth arrest. To investigate the effects of Trib2 in hematopoietic progenitors, mice were reconstituted with hematopoietic stem cells retrovirally expressing Trib2. Trib2-transduced bone marrow cells exhibited a growth advantage ex vivo and readily established factor-dependent cell lines. In vivo, Trib2-reconstituted mice uniformly developed fatal transplantable acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). In mechanistic studies, we found that Trib2 associated with and inhibited C/EBPα. Furthermore, Trib2 expression was elevated in a subset of human AML patient samples. Together, our data identify Trib2 as an oncogene that induces AML through a mechanism involving inactivation of C/EBPα.

doi.org/10.1016/j.ccr.2006.09.012, hdl.handle.net/1765/67160
Cancer Cell
Department of Hematology

Keeshan, K., He, Y., Wouters, B., Shestova, O., Xu, L., Sai, H., Rodriguez, C., Maillard, I., Tobias, J., Valk, P., Carroll, M., Aster, J., Delwel, R.& Pear, W. (2006). Tribbles homolog 2 inactivates C/EBPα and causes acute myelogenous leukemia. Cancer Cell, 10(5), 401–411.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccr.2006.09.012