ALBERT

Description: The zebrafish is an attractive vertebrate model for genetic studies of development, apoptosis, and cancer. Here we describe a transgenic zebrafish line in which T- and B-lymphoid cells express a fusion transgene that encodes the zebrafish bcl-2 protein fused to the enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP). Targeting EGFP-bcl-2 to the developing thymocytes of transgenic fish resulted in a 2.5-fold increase in thymocyte numbers and a 1.8-fold increase in GFP-labeled B cells in the kidney marrow. Fluorescent microscopic analysis of living rag2-EGFP-bcl-2 transgenic fish showed that their thymocytes were resistant to irradiation- and dexamethasone-induced apoptosis, when compared with control rag2-GFP transgenic zebrafish. To test the ability of bcl-2 to block irradiation-induced apoptosis in malignant cells, we compared the responsiveness of Myc-induced leukemias with and without EGFP-bcl-2 expression in living transgenic zebrafish. T-cell leukemias induced by the rag2-EGFP-Myc transgene were ablated by irradiation, whereas leukemias in double transgenic fish expressing both Myc and EGFP-bcl-2 were resistant to irradiation-induced apoptotic cell death. The forward genetic capacity of the zebrafish model system and the ability to monitor GFP-positive thymocytes in vivo make this an ideal transgenic line for modifier screens designed to identify genetic mutations or small molecules that modify bcl-2-mediated antiapoptotic pathways. (Blood. 2005;105:3278-3285)

Description: Abstract 3161 60% of human T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemias (T-ALL) harbor NOTCH1 activating mutations, making it the most commonly mutated oncogene in T-ALL. Notch signaling is critical for T cell development, and activating Notch mutations are found in all subtypes of T-ALL, suggesting that Notch deregulation may be a dominant initiating event in human disease. In human and rodent models of T-ALL, Notch directly induces cMyc expression. However, cMyc over expression cannot completely rescue Notch inhibition, suggesting that Notch may have other important roles in T-ALL progression. Classic viral insertion screens in mice have indentified that insertional activation of Notch1 is common in Myc induced T-cell malignancies, suggesting that Notch imparts a distinct advantage to leukemic clones independent of cMyc. Notch-induced transgenic zebrafish models of T-ALLs are unique in that Notch signaling does not induce cMyc expression, allowing new opportunities to determine the function of Notch which are independent of cMyc. As with rodent models, the co-expression of Notch and cMyc in zebrafish T cells significantly enhanced T-ALL progression compared to cMyc or Notch alone (p

Description: Activating mutations in RAS family members are common in myeloproliferative disease (MPD) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Because the zebrafish has proven to be an excellent leukemia model and can be used in forward genetic and chemical screens to identify modulators of disease pathways, we developed a transgenic zebrafish model of RAS-induced myeloproliferative disease. Stable transgenic zebrafish lines were created in which the ubiquitous B-actin promoter drives expression of a loxed GFP transgene. Upon CRE-mediated recombination, the loxed GFP cassette is excised and the human kRASG12D transgene is expressed. When mated to hsp70-CRE transgenic zebrafish that express CRE recombinase when the animals are heated to 37C for 1 hour, a cohort of 300 double transgenic embryos was generated. In the heat-shocked group, the medial survival time was 25 days, suggesting that oncogenic RAS expression is lethal in developing zebrafish larvae. Of those animals that survived past this time window, most developed sarcomatous muscle tumors. In contrast, most of the double transgenic zebrafish that did not receive heatshock survived to adulthood. Because the hsp70 promoter is active in development and can be induced by stress, the hsp70-CRE transgenic zebrafish line exhibits low levels of CRE expression even in the absence of heatshock. In the non-heat shocked cohort, 10 of 120 double transgenic zebrafish developed MPD by 66 days of life. Histological examination and fluorescence cytometry analysis revealed an expansion of myeloid cell populations within the kidney, comprising granulocytic and monocytic cells in various stages of differentiation, mimicking myeloproliferative diseases seen in both human and mouse. To specifically induce kRASG12D expression in hematopoietic cells, kidneys were dissected from healthy double transgenic animals; heat shocked ex vivo, and then transplanted into sub-lethally irradiated recipient fish. Upon analysis of transplant animals at three months of age, flow cytometry confirmed that MPD had developed in the recipient fish, however other tumor subtypes were not observed. When kidney marrow from transplant animals having MPD were introduced into sub-lethally irradiated secondary recipients, transplant efficiency was greatly reduced. Taken together these results suggest that, as is seen in MPD in mammals, myeloid cells are not fully transformed in our model. In summary, we show that inducible hkRASG12D expression in zebrafish hematopoietic cells leads to myeloproliferative disease and suggest that this model will allow for the identification of novel pathways responsible for full transformation leading to AML.

Description: MYC is a potent proto-oncogene aberrantly expressed in over 70% of human cancers. Our laboratory has previously generated transgenic zebrafish models that overexpress the mouse c-Myc gene fused to green fluorescent protein and develop T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (T-ALL) that recapitulates the human disease both molecularly and pathologically. These previous models have been limited by the inability to breed non-conditional transgenic animals due to disease onset prior to sexual maturity and by the low disease penetrance when conditional transgenic embryos are injected with Cre RNA. In order to improve these zebrafish T-ALL models to make modifier screens feasible, we have generated a new stable Cre transgenic line in which Cre expression is regulated by a heat-shock promoter, and have established a conditional compound transgenic zebrafish model by breeding this pzhsp70-Cre line with conditional rag2-lox-dsRED2-lox-EGFP-mMyc transgenic fish. Upon heat-shock treatment, 81% of compound transgenic fish developed tumor by 197 days of life (mean latency: 120 ± 43 days). Using this model, we showed that overexpression of zebrafish Bcl-2 strikingly accelerates the disease onset, suggesting that suppression of apoptosis is critical for zebrafish Myc-induced tumorigenesis and serving as a proof of principle for subsequent modifier screens. Paradoxically, overexpression of Bcl-2 delays the progression of T-ALL, implying functional roles for Bcl-2 in addition to the inhibition of apoptosis.

Description: MYC and NOTCH are major oncogenic drivers in T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (T-ALL), yet additional collaborating genetic lesions likely collaborate to induce frank malignancy. To identify these factors, a large-scale transgenic screen was completed where 38 amplified and over-expressed genes found in human T-ALL were assessed for accelerating leukemia onset in the zebrafish transgenic model. From this analysis, Thymocyte selection-associated homeobox protein (TOX) synergized with both MYC and NOTCH to induce T-ALL. TOX is dynamically regulated in T cell development with peak expression occurring when thymocytes are actively undergoing T cell receptor (TCR) recombination. TOX is best known for regulating the specification of the mature CD4+ T cells. Despite TOX being genomically amplified in a subset of human and mouse T-ALL and being overexpressed in 100% of human T-ALL, a role for TOX in regulating leukemogenesis has not been reported. Characterization of zebrafish T-ALLs revealed that TOX expands the overall number of malignant T-ALL clones and promoted genomic instability as assessed by changes in DNA content. To identify TOX binding partners, antibody immunoprecipitation studies were performed followed by Tandem Mass Spectrometry. TOX was found to interact with KU70/KU80 but not other DNA repair enzymes including LigaseIV, DNA-PKC, or XRCC4. These results were verified by Western blot analysis and reciprocal immunoprecipitation studies using antibodies specific to KU70/KU80 both in the absence and presence of DNAseI treatment. Given that TOX elevated genomic instability in the zebrafish model and bound specifically to KU70/KU80 – the initiating factors required for Non-Homologous End Joining (NHEJ) repair - we hypothesized that TOX is a negative regulator of double-strand break repair. Fluorescent repair assays were completed in 3T3 fibroblasts and confirmed that TOX inhibits Non-Homologous End Joining (NHEJ). Both the nuclear localization signal and HMG-box were required for the ability of TOX to inhibit double-strand break repair. Dynamic real-time imaging studies confirmed that TOX suppresses recruitment of fluorescent-tagged KU70 to DNA breaks. Importantly, TOX loss of function increased NHEJ in human T-ALL cells and reduced time to DNA repair as assessed by fluorescent Traffic Light Reporter assays and quantitative assessment of 53BP1 and γH2A.X foci resolution following irradiation. Given the prominent role TOX has in T cell development and its coordinated regulation during active TCRβ and TCRα rearrangement, it is likely that the normal function of TOX is to transiently suppress the NHEJ pathway during Recombination-Activating Gene (RAG)-mediated recombination. Prolonging the time to DNA repair would likely facilitate long-range repair across VDJ segments. In the setting of T-ALL, TOX is aberrantly re-activated, thereby suppressing KU70/KU80 function to promote genomic instability and ultimately elevating rates at which acquired mutations and rearrangements are amassed in developing pre-malignant T cells. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Description: Background T cell redirection strategies, such as CAR-T and bispecific antibodies (bsAb), are rapidly changing the way in which we approach and treat cancer. While CAR-T and bsAb have shown impressive clinical efficacy in a limited number of cancers, both strategies are ultimately limited by on-target toxicity that currently restricts application to B-cell lineage tumors as the number of genuinely tumor-specific surface antigens is extremely limited. BsAb also suffer from off-target toxicity relating their ability to directly active T-cells severely restricting the therapeutic window. We sought to solve these inherent problems with the current generation bsAb by re-designing the molecule to alter the mechanism of T-cell activation. By splitting the T-cell engaging VHVL antibody paratope between two separate molecules we created two molecules that formed an active T-cell engaging unit through protein domain complementation following proteolytic activation. Each antibody could target independent surface antigens vastly increasing targeting permutations. Thus, these two antibodies functioned as an "antibody circuit" permitting Boolean type logic to precisely control T-cell activation in multi-dimensional targeting space. We selected AML as model cancer to develop T-cell Engaging Antibody Circuits (TEACs) due to the highly characterized surface antigen landscape and the clear challenges and limitations of single-antigen targeting approaches. Results We first screened 10 AML cell lines for candidate surface antigens based upon prior studies of surface antigen display (Perna F et al, 2016) and identified CD33, CD123, CD49d, CD70, CD71, CD38, CLEC12A, Flt3, CD24, CD244, TIM3 and CCR1 as promising targets. We developed a secondary TEACs screening assay where the two TEAC molecules contained either a FITC or biotin binding domain and paired these to commercial FITC or biotin conjugated antibodies targeting the antigens above. We screened 72 TEAC pairs against the 10 cell lines which identified optimal antigen target combinations which included CD33xCD123, CD33xCLEC12A, CD33xCD49d and CD33xCD24. Using a FRET-based fluorescent peptide assay to identify peptide linkers susceptible to proteases we found MMP2 to be highly expressed in AML samples and thus designed all our TEACs with this cleavage site. We next generated IgG4 format TEACs targeting CD33, CD123, CLEC12A and CD24 that included the MMP2 cleavage activation site and tested these as TEAC pairs in vitro. This screen identified the CD123xCD33 as the most active TEAC pair which was active in 9/10 cells lines. To assess potential safety concerns, we tested TEACs and CD123 and CD33 BiTEs individually and as pairs on PBMCs and on plate-immobilized molecules. These data demonstrated that BiTEs were extremely active against healthy monocytes and also activate T-cells non-specifically once plate-immobilized. In contrast CD123xCD33 IgG TEACs pairs did not activate T-cells when plate-immobilized and did not target healthy monocytes.Finally, we examined the activity of both CD33 BiTEs and CD123xCD33 TEACs on primary patient AML samples. We conducted FRET based assays which confirmed high activity of MMP2 cleavage site on all primary AML samples. When we examined T-cell activation, CD123xCD33 TEACs were active in all CD123+ CD33+ AML samples evaluated with an EC50 of 30ug/ml. Conclusion These data suggest T-cell engaging antibody circuits is a new approach that could be safely applied toward AML. TEAC agents do not directly activate T-cells and CD123xCD33 TEAC pairs do not activate PBMC or monocytes. However, CD123xCD33 TEACs show strong activity against AML cell lines and primary CD123+CD33+ AML cells. Disclosures Millar: Revitope Oncology: Equity Ownership. Minshull:Atum Biotechnology: Employment, Equity Ownership. Narayan:Takeda: Other: Employment (spouse); Genentech: Other: Equity ownership (spouse); Merck: Other: Equity ownership (spouse). Graubert:Biogen: Other: Spouse Employee; Calico Life Sciences: Other: Research Support; Janssen Pharmaceuticals: Other: Research Support. Cobbold:Gritstone Oncology: Equity Ownership; Revitope Oncology: Consultancy; Revitope Oncology: Equity Ownership.

Description: Self-renewal is a feature of cancer and can be assessed by cell transplantation into immune-compromised or immune-matched animals. However, studies in zebrafish have been severely limited by lack of these reagents. Here, Myc-induced T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemias (T-ALLs) have been made in syngeneic, clonal zebrafish and can be transplanted into sibling animals without the need for immune suppression. These studies show that self-renewing cells are abundant in T-ALL and comprise 0.1% to 15.9% of the T-ALL mass. Large-scale single-cell transplantation experiments established that T-ALLs can be initiated from a single cell and that leukemias exhibit wide differences in tumor-initiating potential. T-ALLs also can be introduced into clonal-outcrossed animals, and T-ALLs arising in mixed genetic backgrounds can be transplanted into clonal recipients without the need for major histocompatibility complex matching. Finally, high-throughput imaging methods are described that allow large numbers of fluorescent transgenic animals to be imaged simultaneously, facilitating the rapid screening of engrafted animals. Our experiments highlight the large numbers of zebrafish that can be experimentally assessed by cell transplantation and establish new high-throughput methods to functionally interrogate gene pathways involved in cancer self-renewal.

Description: The study of hematopoiesis has been greatly facilitated by transplantation of blood cell populations into recipient animals. Efficient engraftment of donor cells generally requires ablation of the host hematopoietic system. The zebrafish has recently emerged as a developmental and genetic system to study hematopoiesis. To enable the study of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) biology, immune cell function, and leukemogenesis in zebrafish, we have developed hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) into adult recipient animals conditioned by γ irradiation. Dose-response experiments showed that the minimum lethal dose (MLD) of 40 Gy led to the specific ablation of hematolymphoid cells and death by 14 days after irradiation. Sublethal irradiation doses of 20 Gy predominantly ablated lymphocytes and permitted transplantation of a lethal T-cell leukemia. Finally, transplantation of hematopoietic cells carrying transgenes yielding red fluorescent erythrocytes and green fluorescent leukocytes showed that HCT is sufficient to rescue the MLD, that recipient hematolymphoid tissues were repopulated by donor-derived cells, and that donor blood cell lineages can be independently visualized in living recipients. Together, these results establish transplantation assays to test for HSC function and oncogenic transformation in zebrafish.

Description: Genome-wide chemical mutagenesis screens in the zebrafish(Danio rerio) have led to the identification of novel genes affecting vertebrate erythropoiesis. In determining if this approach could also be used to clarify the molecular genetics of myelopoiesis, it was found that the developmental hierarchy of myeloid precursors in the zebrafish kidney is similar to that in human bone marrow. Zebrafish neutrophils resembled human neutrophils, possessing segmented nuclei and myeloperoxidase-positive cytoplasmic granules. The zebrafish homologue of the human myeloperoxidase (MPO) gene, which is specific to cells of the neutrophil lineage, was cloned and used to synthesize antisense RNA probes for in situ hybridization analyses of zebrafish embryos. Granulocytic cells expressing zebrafishmpo were first evident at 18 hours after fertilization (hpf) in the posterior intermediate cell mass (ICM) and on the anterior yolk sac by 20 hpf. By 24 hpf, mpo-expressing cells were observed along the ICM and within the developing vascular system. Thus, the mpo gene should provide a useful molecular probe for identifying zebrafish mutants with defects in granulopoiesis. The expression of zebrafish homologues was also examined in 2 other mammalian hematopoietic genes, Pu.1, which appears to initiate a commitment step in normal mammalian myeloid development, andL-Plastin, a gene expressed by human monocytes and macrophages. The results demonstrate a high level of conservation of the spatio-temporal expression patterns of these genes between zebrafish and mammals. The morphologic and molecular genetic evidence presented here supports the zebrafish as an informative model system for the study of normal and aberrant human myelopoiesis.