FoxO transcription factors suppress Myc-driven lymphomagenesis via direct activation of Arf

FoxO transcription factors play critical roles in cell cycle control and cellular stress responses, and abrogation of FoxO function promotes focus formation by Myc in vitro. Here we show that stable introduction of a dominant-negative FoxO moiety (dnFoxO) into E mu-myc transgenic hematopoietic stem cells accelerates lymphoma development in recipient mice by attenuating Myc-induced apoptosis. When expressed in E mu-myc; p53(+/-) progenitor cells, dnFoxO alleviates the pressure to inactivate the remaining p53 allele in upcoming lymphomas. Expression of the p53 upstream regulator p19(Arf) is virtually undetectable in most dnFoxO-positive Myc-driven lymphomas. We find that FoxO proteins bind to a distinct site within the Ink4a/Arf locus and activate Arf expression. Moreover, constitutive Myc signaling induces a marked increase in nuclear FoxO levels and stimulates binding of FoxO proteins to the Arf locus. These data demonstrate that FoxO factors mediate Myc-induced Arf expression and provide direct genetic evidence for their tumor-suppressive capacity.