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Gfi-1 inhibits the expression of eosinophil major basic protein (MBP) during G-CSF-induced neutrophilic differentiation

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Abstract

The zinc finger transcriptional repressor Gfi-1 has been shown to play a critical role in early granulopoiesis; however, its role in late neutrophilic development is poorly understood. We report here that forced expression of a dominant negative Gfi-1 mutant, N382S, resulted in augmented mRNA levels of eosinophil major basic protein (MBP) in myeloid cells induced with G-CSF to undergo terminal neutrophilic differentiation. MBP is a cytotoxic protein that is abundantly expressed in eosinophils, but not in neutrophils. Ectopic expression of MBP inhibited the proliferation and survival of differentiating myeloid cells in response to G-CSF. Significantly, while GFI-1 is upregulated during neutrophilic differentiation, it is rapidly downregulated upon induction of eosinophilic differentiation, which was associated with increased MBP expression. Knockdown of GFI-1 in eosinophilic cells also led to increased level of MBP mRNA. These results indicate that Gfi-1 functions to inhibit the expression of MBP and aberrant expression of MBP as a result of loss of Gfi-1 function may cause premature apoptosis of differentiating neutrophils. In contrast, the rapid downregulation of Gfi-1 during eosinophilic development may allow for abundant expression of MBP, a hallmark of eosinophilic differentiation.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by Grants RSG-08-307-01 (FD) from The American Cancer Society and R15HL091511 (FD) from the National Institutes of Health.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toledo, 2801 West Bancroft Street, Toledo, OH, 43606, USA

    Qingquan Liu & Fan Dong

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  1. Qingquan Liu
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  2. Fan Dong
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Correspondence to Fan Dong.

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Liu, Q., Dong, F. Gfi-1 inhibits the expression of eosinophil major basic protein (MBP) during G-CSF-induced neutrophilic differentiation. Int J Hematol 95, 640–647 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12185-012-1078-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12185-012-1078-x

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