Introduction: The promyelocytic leukemia zinc finger (PLZF) gene encodes a transcription factor expressed in myeloid, lymphoid and CD34(+) progenitor cells. Structurally related to BCL-6, which is involved in human lymphoma, PLZF may have a role in proliferation, differentiation and survival of hematopoietic cells, that could be mediated by transcriptional repression of the cyclin A gene.
Materials and methods: Quantitative competitive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used to measure the levels of expression of PLZF and cyclin A in normal leukocyte subsets (including CD19(+) lymphocytes, n=21) and malignant B lymphocytes (including B-chronic lymphocytic leukemias [B-CLL], n=63). Results obtained with this method were confirmed by Western and Northern blot analysis. Transactivation assays were performed using an expression construct for PLZF and two cyclin A promoter luciferase reporters in an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-transformed B-cell line. Cyclin A expression, cell growth kinetics, and cell cycle were analysed in stable clones of the Burkitt lymphoma (BL) B-cell line DG75 with inducible expression of PLZF, generated using the tetracycline-regulated expression system.
Results: Expression of PLZF was 100-fold downregulated in 90% B-CLL (56/63) compared to normal B lymphocytes (P<0.001). B-CLL patients with the highest levels of PLZF had a poorer survival (P<0.013). In transactivation assays, PLZF inhibited the activity of the cyclin A reporters by 50%, demonstrating that PLZF can repress cyclin A expression in non-malignant B lymphocytes. However, in B-CLL patients, the level of cyclin A expression was found to be within the normal range. Altered PLZF function in B lymphoid malignancies was further corroborated in the PLZF-regulatable DG75 clones, where induction of PLZF expression did not significantly alter the levels of cyclin A expression, the cell growth kinetics, or the cell cycle phase distribution.
Conclusion: The lower survival of patients with the highest levels of PLZF suggests that this protein may be a marker of progression in B-CLL. The absence of co-ordinated regulation of PLZF and cyclin A genes in B-CLL and in a malignant B-cell line may indicate a loss of cyclin A control by PLZF in B-CLL and other B-cell disorders. Deregulation of PLZF could thus play a role in B-cell malignancy.