Description
SF3B1, SRSF2 and U2AF1 are the most frequently mutated splicing factor genes in MDS. We have performed a comprehensive analysis to determine the impact of these commonly mutated splicing factors on pre-mRNA splicing in the stem/progenitor cells and in the erythroid and myeloid precursors in splicing factor mutant MDS. Using RNA-seq, we determined the aberrantly spliced genes and dysregulated pathways in bone marrow CD34+ cells of a large group of 82 MDS patients. Splicing factor mutations in MDS result in different mechanistic alterations in splicing and largely affect different genes, but these converged in common dysregulated pathways and cellular processes, including RNA splicing, translation and mitochondrial dysfunction, indicating that these mutations operate through common mechanisms in MDS. Many of these dysregulated pathways and cellular processes can be linked to the known disease pathophysiology and to the phenotypes associated with splicing factor mutations in MDS, whilst several others have not been previously associated with MDS, such as sirtuin signalling. Overall design: RNA-sequencing was performed on bone marrow CD34+ hematopoeitic stem and progenitor cells from patients with myelodysplastic syndrome and healthy controls to identify differential splicing between samples with mutations in the splicing factor SF3B1, SRSF2 or U2AF1 comparative to samples from myelodysplactic syndrome patients without mutations in these splicing factors and healthy controls. Processed data for the CD34+ hematopoeitic stem and progenitor cells are available in the files: CPM_table.txt.gz, Count_table.txt.gz and TPM_table.txt.gz. RNA-sequencing was also performed on monocytic, granulocytic and erythroid precursors from the bone marrow of patients with myelodysplastic syndrome and healthy controls to identify aberrant splicing in samples with mutations in splicing factors SF3B1 and SRSF2 comparative from healthy controls. Processed data for the monocytic, granulocytic and erythroid precursors are available in the files: CPM_table_fractions.txt, Count_table_fractions.txt and TPM_table_fractions.txt.