Go to JCI Insight
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact
  • Clinical Research and Public Health
  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • By specialty
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Gastroenterology
    • Immunology
    • Metabolism
    • Nephrology
    • Neuroscience
    • Oncology
    • Pulmonology
    • Vascular biology
    • All ...
  • Videos
    • ASCI Milestone Awards
    • Video Abstracts
    • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
  • Reviews
    • View all reviews ...
    • The cGAS-STING pathway: DNA sensing in health and disease (Jun 2026)
    • Neurodegeneration (Mar 2026)
    • Clinical innovation and scientific progress in GLP-1 medicine (Nov 2025)
    • Pancreatic Cancer (Jul 2025)
    • Complement Biology and Therapeutics (May 2025)
    • Evolving insights into MASLD and MASH pathogenesis and treatment (Apr 2025)
    • Microbiome in Health and Disease (Feb 2025)
    • View all review series ...
  • Viewpoint
  • Collections
    • In-Press Preview
    • Clinical Research and Public Health
    • Research Letters
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Editorials
    • Commentaries
    • Editor's notes
    • Reviews
    • Viewpoints
    • 100th anniversary
    • Top read articles

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Specialties
  • Reviews
  • Review series
  • ASCI Milestone Awards
  • Video Abstracts
  • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
  • In-Press Preview
  • Clinical Research and Public Health
  • Research Letters
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Editorials
  • Commentaries
  • Editor's notes
  • Reviews
  • Viewpoints
  • 100th anniversary
  • Top read articles
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact

Submit a comment

The OTT-MAL fusion oncogene activates RBPJ-mediated transcription and induces acute megakaryoblastic leukemia in a knockin mouse model
Thomas Mercher, Glen D. Raffel, Sandra A. Moore, Melanie G. Cornejo, Dominique Baudry-Bluteau, Nicolas Cagnard, Jonathan L. Jesneck, Yana Pikman, Dana Cullen, Ifor R. Williams, Koichi Akashi, Hirokazu Shigematsu, Jean-Pierre Bourquin, Marco Giovannini, William Vainchenker, Ross L. Levine, Benjamin H. Lee, Olivier A. Bernard, D. Gary Gilliland
Thomas Mercher, Glen D. Raffel, Sandra A. Moore, Melanie G. Cornejo, Dominique Baudry-Bluteau, Nicolas Cagnard, Jonathan L. Jesneck, Yana Pikman, Dana Cullen, Ifor R. Williams, Koichi Akashi, Hirokazu Shigematsu, Jean-Pierre Bourquin, Marco Giovannini, William Vainchenker, Ross L. Levine, Benjamin H. Lee, Olivier A. Bernard, D. Gary Gilliland
View: Text | PDF
Research Article Oncology

The OTT-MAL fusion oncogene activates RBPJ-mediated transcription and induces acute megakaryoblastic leukemia in a knockin mouse model

  • Text
  • PDF
Abstract

Acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (AMKL) is a form of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) associated with a poor prognosis. The genetics and pathophysiology of AMKL are not well understood. We generated a knockin mouse model of the one twenty-two–megakaryocytic acute leukemia (OTT-MAL) fusion oncogene that results from the t(1;22)(p13;q13) translocation specifically associated with a subtype of pediatric AMKL. We report here that OTT-MAL expression deregulated transcriptional activity of the canonical Notch signaling pathway transcription factor recombination signal binding protein for immunoglobulin κ J region (RBPJ) and caused abnormal fetal megakaryopoiesis. Furthermore, cooperation between OTT-MAL and an activating mutation of the thrombopoietin receptor myeloproliferative leukemia virus oncogene (MPL) efficiently induced a short-latency AMKL that recapitulated all the features of human AMKL, including megakaryoblast hyperproliferation and maturation block, thrombocytopenia, organomegaly, and extensive fibrosis. Our results establish that concomitant activation of RBPJ (Notch signaling) and MPL (cytokine signaling) transforms cells of the megakaryocytic lineage and suggest that specific targeting of these pathways could be of therapeutic value for human AMKL.

Authors

Thomas Mercher, Glen D. Raffel, Sandra A. Moore, Melanie G. Cornejo, Dominique Baudry-Bluteau, Nicolas Cagnard, Jonathan L. Jesneck, Yana Pikman, Dana Cullen, Ifor R. Williams, Koichi Akashi, Hirokazu Shigematsu, Jean-Pierre Bourquin, Marco Giovannini, William Vainchenker, Ross L. Levine, Benjamin H. Lee, Olivier A. Bernard, D. Gary Gilliland

×

Guidelines

The Editorial Board will only consider comments that are deemed relevant and of interest to readers. The Journal will not post data that have not been subjected to peer review; or a comment that is essentially a reiteration of another comment.

  • Comments appear on the Journal’s website and are linked from the original article’s web page.
  • Authors are notified by email if their comments are posted.
  • The Journal reserves the right to edit comments for length and clarity.
  • No appeals will be considered.
  • Comments are not indexed in PubMed.

Specific requirements

  • Maximum length, 400 words
  • Entered as plain text or HTML
  • Author’s name and email address, to be posted with the comment
  • Declaration of all potential conflicts of interest (even if these are not ultimately posted); see the Journal’s conflict-of-interest policy
  • Comments may not include figures
This field is required
This field is required
This field is required
This field is required
This field is required
This field is required

Copyright © 2026 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)

Sign up for email alerts