HOME / PUBLICATIONS /

Disruption of the Cbfa2 gene causes necrosis and hemorrhaging in the central nervous system and blocks definitive hematopoiesis.

Citation:

Wang Q, Stacy T, Binder M, Marin-Padilla M, Sharpe AH, Speck NA. Disruption of the Cbfa2 gene causes necrosis and hemorrhaging in the central nervous system and blocks definitive hematopoiesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1996;93 (8) :3444-9.

Date Published:

1996 Apr 16

Abstract:

The CBFA2 (AML1) gene encodes a DNA-binding subunit of the heterodimeric core-binding factor. The CBFA2 gene is disrupted by the (8;21), (3;21), and (12;21) chromosomal translocations associated with leukemias and myelodysplasias in humans. Mice lacking a CBF alpha 2 protein capable of binding DNA die between embryonic days 11.5 and 12.5 due to hemorrhaging in the central nervous system (CNS), at the nerve/CNS interfaces of cranial and spinal nerves, and in somitic/intersomitic regions along the presumptive spinal cord. Hemorrhaging is preceded by symmetric, bilateral necrosis in these regions. Definitive erythropoiesis and myelopoiesis do not occur in Cbfa2-deficient embryos, and disruption of one copy of the Cbfa2 gene significantly reduces the number of progenitors for erythroid and myeloid cells.