Abstract

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remains incurable, largely due to its resistance to conventional treatments. Here, we found that increased expression and abundance of the ubiquitin ligase RNF5 contributes to AML development and survival. High RNF5 expression in AML patients correlated with poor prognosis. RNF5 inhibition decreased AML cell growth in culture and in vivo, and blocked development of MLL-AF9-driven leukemogenesis in mice, prolonging their survival. RNF5 inhibition led to transcriptional changes that overlapped with those seen upon HDAC1 inhibition. RNF5 induced the formation of K29 ubiquitin chains on the histone-binding protein RBBP4, promoting its recruitment and subsequent epigenetic regulation of genes involved in AML development and maintenance. Correspondingly, RNF5 or RBBP4 knockdown enhanced the sensitivity of AML cells to histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors. Notably, low expression of RNF5 and HDAC coincided with a favorable prognosis. Our studies identified ERAD-independent role for RNF5, demonstrating that its control of RBBP4 constitutes an epigenetic pathway that drives AML while highlighting RNF5/RBBP4 as markers to stratify patients for treatment with HDAC inhibitors.