The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research

Latest News 18/03/2010

Leukaemia gene Moz linked further to cancer development

 

Researchers in the Molecular Medicine division have discovered that a protein called MOZ, which is genetically altered in certain blood cancers, is important in controlling a group of genes that have also been implicated in cancer disease processes.

Through studies of how body segmentation in mammals is controlled, a research team lead by Drs Anne Voss and Tim Thomas have shown that MOZ regulates most, possibly all, Hox genes.

“Hox genes are important for the correct specification of the body segments that form during embryonic development,” Dr Voss said. “However, these genes are also known to be inappropriately active in a large number of cancers, particularly in leukaemia.

“The activity of Hox genes is believed to be regulated by the chemical modification of histones—proteins that provide a structural and regulatory scaffold for the chromosomal DNA,” Dr Voss said.

MOZ is a histone-modifying enzyme, and Drs Voss and Thomas showed that when MOZ is absent Hox genes are less active.

“There are only a few proteins known to regulate Hox genes in such a global manner as MOZ, which activates most or all Hox genes,” Dr Voss said.

Drs Voss and Thomas showed in 2006 that MOZ is essential to the development of the haematopoietic stem cells that give rise to all the blood cell types. “Therefore it is likely that the genetically altered forms of MOZ cause cancer through inappropriate regulation of Hox gene expression,” Dr Voss said.

The research has been published in the journal Developmental Cell. It was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council.

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