Molecular Consequences and Targeting of PPM1D Overexpression in Myeloproliferative Neoplasms

Phosphatase Mg2+/Mn2+ dependent 1D protein (PPM1D) is a serine threonine phosphatase known to regulate oncogenic pathways. PPM1D mutations are enriched in therapy-related MDS and AML, but the role of PPM1D in myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) remains largely unexplored. By sequencing 519 MPN patients, we detected activating PPM1D mutations in 3.1% of them. Importantly, PPM1D was overexpressed in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) in most PPM1D wild-type (WT) MPN cases. To elucidate the impact of PPM1D mutations on MPN HSPCs, we generated isogenic JAK2V617F+/PPM1D-WT and JAK2V617F+/PPM1D mutant (MUT) induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines from a MPN patient. Single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) of iPSC derived HSPCs revealed altered TP53, DNA damage response and cell cycle regulation. scRNA-seq analysis of primary PPM1D-MUT MPN patient mononuclear cells (MNCs) further confirmed upregulation of MYC, mTORC1, OXPHOS, JAK/STAT, and NF-κB pathways and corresponding genes in HSCs. The allosteric PPM1D inhibitor (PPM1Di) GSK2830371 preferentially inhibited colony formation in myelofibrosis (MF) samples. Combination treatment of GSK2830371 with low dose inhibition of HDM2, a negative regulator of p53, significantly improved targeting of JAK2V617F+ HSPCs, while sparing normal HSPCs. Single-cell mutational and protein analysis of a clonally complex MF patient sample treated with this combination strategy revealed reduced mutated clones and increased WT clones by >4-fold. Dual PPM1D and HDM2 targeting also significantly decreased leukemic burden in a xenograft MPN model. These findings support PPM1D as a critical MPN HSPCs regulator and support dual PPM1D/HDM2 inhibition as a treatment strategy for MF patients.