Daxx maintains endogenous retroviral silencing and restricts cellular plasticity in vivo

Citations Over TimeTop 13% of 2020 papers

Abstract

Tumor sequencing studies have emphasized the role of epigenetics and altered chromatin homeostasis in cancer. Mutations in DAXX, which encodes a chaperone for the histone 3.3 variant, occur in 25% of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs). To advance our understanding of physiological functions of Daxx, we developed a conditional Daxx allele in mice. We demonstrate that Daxx loss is well tolerated in the pancreas but creates a permissive transcriptional state that cooperates with environmental stress (inflammation) and other genetic lesions (Men1 loss) to alter gene expression and cell state, impairing pancreas recovery from inflammatory stress in vivo. The transcriptional changes are associated with dysregulation of endogenous retroviral elements (ERVs), and dysregulation of endogenous genes near ERVs is also observed in human PanNETs with DAXX mutations. Our results reveal a physiologic function of DAXX, provide a mechanism associated with impaired tissue regeneration and tumorigenesis, and expand our understanding of ERV regulation in somatic cells.

Related Papers

• → The Relationship of the Mechanisms of the Pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis and the Expression of Endogenous Retroviruses(2020)10 cited
• → Interference between avian endogenous ev/J 4.1 and exogenous ALV-J retroviral envelopes(2003)15 cited
• → Endogenous retroviruses mobilized during friend murine leukemia virus infection(2016)9 cited
• Why cell biologists should be aware of genetically transmitted viruses.(1978)
• → An endogenous retrovirus involved in placental morphogenesis in Bovinae: diversity of mammalian placentas and endogenous retroviruses(2014)