Project description:Genome wide DNA methylation profiling of pediatric acute myeloid leukemia obtained from bone marrow. The Illumina EPIC methylation beadchip array was used to obtain DNA methylation profiles across approximately 850,000 CpG dinucleotide methylation loci in DNA isolated from leukemia. Samples include 64 patients.
Project description:Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in children with cytogenetic aberrations like translocation t(7;12)(q36;p13) is associated with inferior outcome. The translocation can lead to a fusion transcript MNX1::ETV6 but also to activation of MNX1 transcription. We generated an AML mouse model by transplantation of fetal liver cells with ectopic expression of MNX1. AML was highly penetrant in immunocompromised and less penetrant in immunocompetent mice. Transforming capacity was restricted to fetal liver cells and could not achieved with adult bone marrow cells, in concordance with the clinical finding that t(7;12)(q36;p13) is mostly restricted to infants. Ectopic expression of MNX1 led to increased H3K4methylation and reduced H3K27me3, possibly through its interaction with methyl transferases. MNX1 expression was accompanied with changes in genome wide chromatin accessibility , increased DNA damage, depletion in the LSK population and skewing toward the myeloid lineage. These effects, together with leukemia development, could be prevented by the S-adenosylmethionine analogue Sinefungin that acts as a SAM competitor and a pan methyltranferases inhibitor. Expression profiles of a human iPSC AML model with t(7;12) and of TARGET pediatric AML and TCGA patients support the rationale for targeting MNX1 and downstream pathways.
Project description:We established a transcriptome cohort of pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (n=553) with RNA sequencing. This dataset of cord blood CD34+ cells (n=5, indivisual lots) is normal controls to characterize leukemia-specific expression patterns.
Project description:In contrast to patients with B cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (BCP-ALL), patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have not yet benefited from recent advances in targeted immunotherapy. Repurposing immunotherapies that have been successfully used to target other hematological malignancies could, in case of a shared target antigen, represent a promising opportunity to expand the immunotherapeutic options for AML. Here, we evaluated the expression of CD19 in a large pediatric AML cohort, assessed the ex vivo AML killing efficacy of CD19-directed immunotherapies, and characterized the bone marrow immune microenvironment in pediatric AML, BCP-ALL, and non-leukemic controls. Out of 167 newly diagnosed de novo pediatric AML patients, 18 patients (11%) had CD19+ AML, with 61% carrying the translocation t(8;21)(q22;q22). Among CD19+ samples, we observed a continuum of CD19 expression levels on AML cells. In individuals exhibiting unimodal and high CD19 expression, the antigen was consistently present on nearly all CD34+CD38- and CD34+CD38+ subpopulations. In ex vivo AML-T cell co-cultures, blinatumomab demonstrated substantial AML killing, with an efficacy similar to BCP-ALL. In addition, CAR T cells could effectively eliminate CD19+ AML cells ex vivo. Furthermore, our immunogenomic assessment of the bone marrow immune microenvironment of newly diagnosed pediatric t(8;21) AML revealed that T- and NK cells had a less exhausted and senescent phenotype in comparison to pediatric BCP-ALL. Altogether, our study underscores the promise of CD19-directed immunotherapies for the treatment of pediatric CD19+ AML.
Project description:Pediatric patients with de novo acute myeloid leukemia. To define genomic architecture, we performed genome-wide copy number abberation analysis in 460 paired diagnostic-remission bone marrow aspirates.
Project description:MicroRNA-sequencing of the bone marrow samples from Brazilian pediatric patients with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) and T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL).