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MECHANISMS OF CLONAL EVOLUTION IN CHILDHOOD ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC LEUKEMIA

Thursday, 21st of May 2015 Print

MECHANISMS OF CLONAL EVOLUTION IN CHILDHOOD ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC LEUKEMIA

Srividya Swaminathan et al.

Abstract below ; full text, with figures, is at http://www.nature.com/articles/ni.3160.epdf?referrer_access_token=yNATHO8fYvphVabdpYkEStRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0OyBm0FcNmP_L7ZuOeo-akuhGkVWSG10z2esM5MPwtrNbBNEQ306_rjH2Z_2Il6KvMds72Mz93jL3WKW3YljIgm3V-3NL4v_-8rkRgletK_FyK11zD2TklVRl_Ti7D1Y3aUGT90M6NE4thCoab3PxZb8gJdBEg-G4MBzsh05eL4u8ddNpY9JUHGLTQGGHlEpRdpLlu26bqktYhJqUWItxnSTE0aioh7tx8hNj1s9-MRf6AO_KxAeYRpJU8ZxbQ_LeZTGmZA6suJOFV8AM97rpItd8NftAUu2VVWW7Z-07WOkSUucSlW8ZGL7_amS34yUkU%3D&tracking_referrer=well.blogs.nytimes.com

 

Abstract

Childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia  (ALL) can often be traced to a pre-leukemic clone carrying a prenatal genetic lesions. Postnatally acquired mutations then driven clonal evolution toward overt leukemia. The enzymes RAG1-RAG2 and AID, which diversify immunoglobulin-encoding genes, are strictly segregated in developing cells during B lymphopoiesis and peripheral mature B cells, respectively. Here we identified small pre-BII cells as a natural subset with increased genetic vulnerability owing to concurrent activation of these enzymes. Consistent with epidemiological findings on childhood ALL etiology, susceptibility to genetic lesions during B lymphopoiesis at the transition from the large pre-BII cell stage to the small pre-BII cell stage was exacerbated by abnormal cytokine signaling and repetitive inflammatory stimuli. We demonstrated that AID and RAG1-RAG2 drove leukemic clonal evolution with repeated exposure to inflammatory stimuli, paralleling chronic infections in childhood.


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