Overexpression of HOXB3 in hematopoietic cells causes defective lymphoid development and progressive myeloproliferation

HOXB3 mRNA levels are high in the earliest CD34(+) lineage(-) bone marrow cells and low to undetectable in later CD34(+)/CD34(-) cells. To gain some insight into the role this gene may play in hematopoiesis, HOXB3 was overexpressed in murine bone marrow cells using retroviral gene transfer. Thymi of HOXB3 marrow recipients were reduced in size compared with control transplant recipients, with a 24-fold decrease in the absolute number of CD4(+)CD8(+) cells and a 3-fold increase in the number of CD4(-)CD8(-) thymocytes that contained a high proportion of gamma delta TCR+ celIs. B cell differentiation was also perturbed in these mice, as indicated by the virtual absence of transduced IL-7-responsive pre-B clonogenic progenitors. Recipients of HOXB3-transduced cells also had elevated numbers of mature granulocyte macrophage colony-forming cells in their bone marrow and spleen. Together these results suggest roles for HOXB3 in proliferation and differentiation processes of both early myeloid and lymphoid developmental pathways.