Sex differences in DNMT3A-mutant clonal hematopoiesis and the effects of estrogen

Summary: Blood cancers are generally more common in males, and the prevalence of most mutations that drive clonal hematopoiesis and myeloid malignancies is higher in males. In contrast, hematopoietic DNMT3A mutations are more common in females. Among ∼450,000 participants in the UK Biobank, the prev...

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Main Authors: Julia Stomper, Abhishek Niroula, Roger Belizaire, Marie McConkey, Tagore Sanketh Bandaru, Benjamin L. Ebert
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-04-01
Series:Cell Reports
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124725002657
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author Julia Stomper
Abhishek Niroula
Roger Belizaire
Marie McConkey
Tagore Sanketh Bandaru
Benjamin L. Ebert
author_facet Julia Stomper
Abhishek Niroula
Roger Belizaire
Marie McConkey
Tagore Sanketh Bandaru
Benjamin L. Ebert
author_sort Julia Stomper
collection DOAJ
description Summary: Blood cancers are generally more common in males, and the prevalence of most mutations that drive clonal hematopoiesis and myeloid malignancies is higher in males. In contrast, hematopoietic DNMT3A mutations are more common in females. Among ∼450,000 participants in the UK Biobank, the prevalence of DNMT3A mutations and copy-number abnormalities is higher in females than males. In a murine model, Dnmt3a-mutant hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) from unperturbed female mice had increased stemness gene expression compared to male and wild-type (WT) mice. Estrogen regulates HSCs, and we found that Dnmt3a mutations maintain stemness in the setting of estrogen-induced proliferative stress. Dnmt3a-mutant myeloid cells outcompeted WT cells under chronic estrogen treatment, an effect that was dependent on cell-intrinsic estrogen receptor alpha activity. Our studies indicate that estrogen might contribute to the female predominance of DNMT3A-mutant clonal hematopoiesis.
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series Cell Reports
spelling doaj-art-b6bbe90d9d1b41a0b878abb6df4183382025-08-20T03:16:46ZengElsevierCell Reports2211-12472025-04-0144411549410.1016/j.celrep.2025.115494Sex differences in DNMT3A-mutant clonal hematopoiesis and the effects of estrogenJulia Stomper0Abhishek Niroula1Roger Belizaire2Marie McConkey3Tagore Sanketh Bandaru4Benjamin L. Ebert5Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02215, USABroad Institute, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Department of Medical Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Institute of Biomedicine, University of Gothenburg, 40530 Gothenburg, Sweden; SciLifeLab, University of Gothenburg, 40530 Gothenburg, SwedenDepartment of Pathology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02215, USADepartment of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02215, USADepartment of Medical Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Institute of Biomedicine, University of Gothenburg, 40530 Gothenburg, SwedenDepartment of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Corresponding authorSummary: Blood cancers are generally more common in males, and the prevalence of most mutations that drive clonal hematopoiesis and myeloid malignancies is higher in males. In contrast, hematopoietic DNMT3A mutations are more common in females. Among ∼450,000 participants in the UK Biobank, the prevalence of DNMT3A mutations and copy-number abnormalities is higher in females than males. In a murine model, Dnmt3a-mutant hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) from unperturbed female mice had increased stemness gene expression compared to male and wild-type (WT) mice. Estrogen regulates HSCs, and we found that Dnmt3a mutations maintain stemness in the setting of estrogen-induced proliferative stress. Dnmt3a-mutant myeloid cells outcompeted WT cells under chronic estrogen treatment, an effect that was dependent on cell-intrinsic estrogen receptor alpha activity. Our studies indicate that estrogen might contribute to the female predominance of DNMT3A-mutant clonal hematopoiesis.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124725002657CP: Stem cell research
spellingShingle Julia Stomper
Abhishek Niroula
Roger Belizaire
Marie McConkey
Tagore Sanketh Bandaru
Benjamin L. Ebert
Sex differences in DNMT3A-mutant clonal hematopoiesis and the effects of estrogen
Cell Reports
CP: Stem cell research
title Sex differences in DNMT3A-mutant clonal hematopoiesis and the effects of estrogen
title_full Sex differences in DNMT3A-mutant clonal hematopoiesis and the effects of estrogen
title_fullStr Sex differences in DNMT3A-mutant clonal hematopoiesis and the effects of estrogen
title_full_unstemmed Sex differences in DNMT3A-mutant clonal hematopoiesis and the effects of estrogen
title_short Sex differences in DNMT3A-mutant clonal hematopoiesis and the effects of estrogen
title_sort sex differences in dnmt3a mutant clonal hematopoiesis and the effects of estrogen
topic CP: Stem cell research
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124725002657
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