Pyjacker identifies enhancer hijacking events in acute myeloid leukemia including MNX1 activation via deletion 7q

Acute myeloid leukemia with complex karyotype (ckAML) is characterized by high genomic complexity, including frequent TP53 mutations and chromothripsis. We hypothesized that the numerous genomic rearrangements could reposition active enhancers near proto-oncogenes, leading to their aberrant expression. We developed pyjacker, a computational tool for the detection of enhancer hijacking events, and applied it to a cohort of 39 ckAML samples. Pyjacker identified motor neuron and pancreas homeobox 1 (MNX1), a gene aberrantly expressed in 1.4% of AML patients, often as a result of del(7)(q22q36) associated with hijacking of a CDK6 enhancer. MNX1-activated cases show significant co-occurrence with BCOR mutations and a gene signature shared with t(7;12)(q36;p13) pediatric AML. We demonstrated that MNX1 is a dependency gene, as its knockdown in a xenograft model reduces leukemia cell fitness. In conclusion, enhancer hijacking is a frequent mechanism for oncogene activation in AML.

Type: Cancer Genomics
Archiver: European Genome-Phenome Archive (EGA)

2 Datasets

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Dataset ID	Description	Technology	Samples
EGAD50000001097	This dataset contains 115 samples of WGS, ATAC, 4C and RNAseq samples of patients with acute myeloid leukemia. The sequencing was performed on Illumina HiSeq 4000, 2000 and HiSeq X using Illumina TruSeq Nano DNA and Agilent Strand Specific RNA Kits. The sequencing was always paired.	HiSeq X Ten Illumina HiSeq 2000 Illumina HiSeq 4000 Illumina NovaSeq 6000 Illumina NovaSeq X NextSeq 550	115
EGAD50000001098	This dataset contains 10 samples of WGS, ATAC, 4C and RNAseq samples of patients with acute myeloid leukemia. The sequencing was performed on Illumina HiSeq 4000, 2000 and HiSeq X using Illumina TruSeq Nano DNA and Agilent Strand Specific RNA Kits. The sequencing was always paired.	HiSeq X Ten Illumina HiSeq 2000 Illumina HiSeq 4000	10