Nature Communications (Nov 2023)

Transcriptional reprogramming by mutated IRF4 in lymphoma

  • Nikolai Schleussner,
  • Pierre Cauchy,
  • Vedran Franke,
  • Maciej Giefing,
  • Oriol Fornes,
  • Naveen Vankadari,
  • Salam A. Assi,
  • Mariantonia Costanza,
  • Marc A. Weniger,
  • Altuna Akalin,
  • Ioannis Anagnostopoulos,
  • Thomas Bukur,
  • Marco G. Casarotto,
  • Frederik Damm,
  • Oliver Daumke,
  • Benjamin Edginton-White,
  • J. Christof M. Gebhardt,
  • Michael Grau,
  • Stephan Grunwald,
  • Martin-Leo Hansmann,
  • Sylvia Hartmann,
  • Lionel Huber,
  • Eva Kärgel,
  • Simone Lusatis,
  • Daniel Noerenberg,
  • Nadine Obier,
  • Ulrich Pannicke,
  • Anja Fischer,
  • Anja Reisser,
  • Andreas Rosenwald,
  • Klaus Schwarz,
  • Srinivasan Sundararaj,
  • Andre Weilemann,
  • Wiebke Winkler,
  • Wendan Xu,
  • Georg Lenz,
  • Klaus Rajewsky,
  • Wyeth W. Wasserman,
  • Peter N. Cockerill,
  • Claus Scheidereit,
  • Reiner Siebert,
  • Ralf Küppers,
  • Rudolf Grosschedl,
  • Martin Janz,
  • Constanze Bonifer,
  • Stephan Mathas

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41954-8
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 1
pp. 1 – 18

Abstract

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Abstract Disease-causing mutations in genes encoding transcription factors (TFs) can affect TF interactions with their cognate DNA-binding motifs. Whether and how TF mutations impact upon the binding to TF composite elements (CE) and the interaction with other TFs is unclear. Here, we report a distinct mechanism of TF alteration in human lymphomas with perturbed B cell identity, in particular classic Hodgkin lymphoma. It is caused by a recurrent somatic missense mutation c.295 T > C (p.Cys99Arg; p.C99R) targeting the center of the DNA-binding domain of Interferon Regulatory Factor 4 (IRF4), a key TF in immune cells. IRF4-C99R fundamentally alters IRF4 DNA-binding, with loss-of-binding to canonical IRF motifs and neomorphic gain-of-binding to canonical and non-canonical IRF CEs. IRF4-C99R thoroughly modifies IRF4 function by blocking IRF4-dependent plasma cell induction, and up-regulates disease-specific genes in a non-canonical Activator Protein-1 (AP-1)-IRF-CE (AICE)-dependent manner. Our data explain how a single mutation causes a complex switch of TF specificity and gene regulation and open the perspective to specifically block the neomorphic DNA-binding activities of a mutant TF.