Cancer cells frequently depend on chromatin regulatory activities to maintain a malignant
phenotype. Here, we show that leukemia cells require the mammalian SWI/SNF chromatin
remodeling complex for their survival and aberrant self-renewal potential. While Brg1, an
ATPase subunit of SWI/SNF, is known to suppress tumor formation in several cell types, we
found that leukemia cells instead rely on Brg1 to support their oncogenic transcriptional
program, which includes Myc as one of its key targets. To account for this context-specific …

Cancer cells frequently depend on chromatin regulatory activities to maintain a malignant
phenotype. Here, we show that leukemia cells require the mammalian SWI/SNF chromatin
remodeling complex for their survival and aberrant self-renewal potential. While Brg1, an
ATPase subunit of SWI/SNF, is known to suppress tumor formation in several cell types, we
found that leukemia cells instead rely on Brg1 to support their oncogenic transcriptional
program, which includes Myc as one of its key targets. To account for this context-specific …