Characterization of new oncogenes identified through NGS-based analysis of leukemias: SETBP1 and ETS2-ERG

In the past years, the improvements in sequencing technology led to the development of “Next Generation Sequencing” (NGS) technologies. Several NGS approaches exist. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) and whole exome sequencing (WES) allow the identification of genomic alterations such as small insertions/deletions, point mutations and structural variants. Whole transcriptome sequencing (RNA-Seq) permits to quantify gene expression profiles and to detect alternative splicing and fusion transcripts. Recently, by using WES on atypical chronic myeloid leukemia (aCML) samples, our group identified recurrent mutations in SETBP1 gene; also, by using RNA-Seq on acute myeloid leukemia (AML), we identified a new fusion gene: ETS2-ERG. In aCML, SETBP1 mutations disrupt a degron binding site, leading to a decreased protein degradation. This leads to an increased amount of SETBP1 protein interacting with its natural ligand SET, which in turn acts inhibiting the protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) oncosuppressor. Interestingly, the SETBP1 mutational cluster affected in aCML is highly conserved and the same mutations were also observed in the Schinzel-Giedion syndrome (SGS). However, the inhibition of the PP2A by SET, the only known interactor of SETBP1, does not explain the phenotype of SGS. To further characterize the role of SETBP1 protein, 293 Flp-In isogenic cellular models expressing the empty vector or the wild type (WT) or mutated (G870S) form of SETBP1 were established. In these models SETBP1 was fused with a V5 tag. Chromatin Immunoprecipitation sequencing experiments (Chip-Seq) performed against V5 confirmed the binding of SETBP1 to DNA, both for the WT and G870S forms. In addition, RNA-Seq experiments were performed. The comparison between Chip-Seq and RNA-Seq data has allowed us to identify 130 genes presenting both the binding of SETBP1 to their promoter region and transcriptional upregulation. Together these data suggest a role for SETBP1 as a transcriptional activator. Co-im