BCL6 Overexpression Alters Gene Expression Profile in a Myeloma Cell Line and Is Associated with Decreased DNA Damage Response

Abstract

BCL6 attenuates DNA damage response (DDR) through gene repression and facilitates tolerance to genomic instability during immunoglobulin affinity maturation in germinal center (GC) B cells. Although BCL6 expression is repressed through normal differentiation of GC B cells into plasma cells, a recent study showed the ectopic expression of BCL6 in primary multiple myeloma (MM) cells. However, the functional roles of BCL6 in MM cells are largely unknown. Here, we report that overexpression of BCL6 in a MM cell line, KMS12PE, induced transcriptional repression of ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM), a DDR signaling kinase, which was associated with a reduction in γH2AX formation after DNA damage. In contrast, transcription of known targets of BCL6 in GC B cells was not affected, suggesting a cell type-specific function of BCL6. To further investigate the effects of BCL6 overexpression on the MM cell line, we performed mRNA-sequence analysis and found an up-regulation in the genomic mutator activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) with alteration in the gene expression profile, which is suggestive of de-differentiation from plasma cells. Moreover, IL-6-exposure to KMS12PE led to up-regulation of BCL6 and AID, down-regulation of ATM, and attenuation of DDR, which were consistent with the effects of BCL6 overexpression in this MM cell line. Taken together, these results indicated that overexpression of BCL6 alters gene expression profile and confers decreased DDR in MM cells. This phenotypic change could be reproduced by IL-6 stimulation, suggesting an important role of external stimuli in inducing genomic instability, which is a hallmark of MM cells.

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

http://ift.tt/2qKViL0