Effect of JAK2 gene mutations on erythropoiesis using human induced pluripotent stem cells

Abstract

Activating mutations affecting the JAK-STAT signal transduction is the genetic driver of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) which comprise polycythemia vera (PV), essential thrombocythemia (ET) and myelofibrosis. The JAK2p.V617F mutation can produce both erythrocytosis in PV and thrombocytosis in ET, while JAK2 exon 12 mutations cause only erythrocytosis. We hypothesized that these two mutations activated different intracellular signals. In this study, the induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) were used to model JAK2-mutated MPNs. Normal iPSCs underwent lentiviral transduction to overexpress JAK2p.V617F or JAK2p.N542_E543del (JAK2exon12) under a doxycycline-inducible system. The modified iPSCs were differentiated into erythroid cells. Compared with JAK2V617F-iPSCS, JAK2exon12-iPSCs yielded more total CD71+GlycophorinA+ erythroid cells (p value = 0.007), displayed more mature morphology and expressed more adult hemoglobin after doxycycline induction. Capillary Western immunoassay revealed significantly higher phospho-STAT1 but lower phospho-STAT3 and lower Phospho-AKT in JAK2exon12-iPSCs compared with those of JAK2V617F-iPSCs in response to erythropoietin. Furthermore, interferon alpha and arsenic trioxide were tested on these modified iPSCs to explore their potentials for MPN therapy. Both agents preferentially inhibited proliferation and promoted apoptosis of the iPSCs expressing mutant JAK2 compared with those without doxycycline induction. In conclusion, the modified iPSC model can be used to investigate the mechanisms and search for new therapy of MPNs.