Down-regulation of GATA1 uncouples STAT5-induced erythroid differentiation from stem/progenitor cell proliferation

Previously, we have shown that overexpression of an activated mutant of signal transducer and activator of transcription-5 (STAT5) induces erythropoiesis, impaired myelopoiesis, and an increase in long-term proliferation of human hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. Because GATA1 is a key transcription factor involved in erythropoiesis, the involvement of GATA1 in STAT5-induced phenotypes was studied by shRNA-mediated knockdown of GATA1. CD34(+) cord blood cells were double transduced with a conditionally active STAT5 mutant and a lentiviral vector expressing a short hairpin against GATA1. Erythropoiesis was completely abolished in the absence of GATA1, indicating that STAT5-induced erythropoiesis is GATA1-dependent. Furthermore, the impaired myelopoiesis in STAT5-transduced cells was restored by GATA1 knockdown. Interestingly, early cobblestone formation was only modestly affected, and long-term growth of STAT5-positive cells was increased in the absence of GATA1, whereby high progenitor numbers were maintained. Thus, GATA1 down-regulation allowed the dissection of STAT5-induced differentiation phenotypes from the effects on long-term expansion of stem/progenitor cells. Gene expression profiling allowed the identification of GATA1-dependent and GATA1-independent STAT5 target genes, and these studies revealed that several proliferation-related genes were up-regulated by STAT5 independent of GATA1, whereas several erythroid differentiation-related genes were found to be GATA1 as well as STAT5 dependent.