Background: CD7 is a negative prognostic marker in myeloid malignancies. In acute myeloid leukemia (AML), an inverse correlation exists between expression of wild-type CEBPA and CD7. Aim of this study was to find out whether C/EBPalpha is a negative regulator of CD7 and which other regulatory mechanisms might be involved.
Results: As already described for primary AML cells, the majority of AML cell lines tested were either C/EBPalpha+/CD7- or C/EBPalpha-/CD7+. However, the existence of isolated CD7+ cell lines expressing wild-type C/EBPalpha challenges the notion that C/EBPalpha acts as a unique repressor of CD7. Furthermore, ectopic expression of CEBPA did not reduce CD7 in CD7+ cells and knock-down of C/EBPalpha failed to induce CD7 in CD7- cells. In contrast, the DNA demethylating agent Aza-2'deoxycytidine triggered CD7 expression in CD7- AML and in T-cell lines suggesting epigenetic regulation of CD7. Bisulfite sequencing data confirmed that CpGs in the CD7 exon1 region are methylated in CD7- cell lines, and unmethylated in CD7+ cell lines.
Conclusion: We confirmed an inverse correlation between the expression of wild-type CEBPA and of CD7 in AML cells. Our results contradict the hypothesis that C/EBPalpha acts as repressor for CD7, and instead show that epigenetic mechanisms are responsible for CD7 regulation, in AML cells as well as in T-cells, the typical CD7 expressing cell type.