Project description:miR-130a is captured as part of a 798 gene probe set on a microarray plate for 48 CBF patients In the group of patients defined here, survival characteristics and relapse information was collected to unbiasedly assess the impact of any miRNA on survival
Project description:In AML, most patients are initiated on standard chemotherapy and afterwards assigned to a post-remission strategy based on genetically-defined risk categories. However, outcomes remain heterogeneous, indicating the need for novel biomarker tests that can rapidly and accurately identify high-risk patients, allowing better stratification of both induction and post-remission therapy. As patient outcomes are linked to leukemia stem cell (LSC) properties that confer therapy resistance and drive relapse, LSC-based biomarkers may be highly informative. We tested 227 CD34/CD38 cell fractions from 78 AML patients for LSC activity in xenotransplantation assays. Comparison of microarray-based gene expression (GE) profiles between 138 LSC+ and 89 LSC? fractions identified 104 differentially-expressed LSC-specific genes. To obtain prognostic signatures, we performed statistical regression analysis of LSC GE against patient outcome using a training cohort of 495 AML patients treated with curative intent. A score calculated as the weighted sum of expression of 17 LSC signature genes (LSC17) was strongly associated with survival in 4 independent datasets (716 AML cases) spanning all risk categories in multi-variate analysis; an optimized 3-gene sub-score (LSC3) was prognostic in favorable risk subsets. These scores were robust across GE technology platforms, including the clinically serviceable NanoString system (LSC17: HR=2.73, P<0.0001; LSC3: HR=6.3, P<0.02). The LSC17 and LSC3 scores provide rapid and accurate identification of high-risk patients for whom conventional chemotherapy is non-curative. These scores will enable evaluation in clinical trials of whether such patients may benefit from novel and/or more intensified therapies during induction or in the post-remission setting.
Project description:<p>Pediatric <i>de novo</i> acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous disease that can be divided into clinically distinct subtypes based on the presence of specific chromosomal abnormalities or gene alterations. One of the best characterized subtypes of AML involves leukemias with alterations of the core-binding factor (CBF)-complex, which comprises the FAB subtypes M2 and M4Eo and associates with a favorable outcome. Patients with the AML M2 subtype harbor a translocation between chromosomes 8 and 21 [t(8;21)] that yields the chimeric fusion gene <i>RUNX1(AML1)-RUNX1T1(ETO)</i>, while patients with AML M4Eo express the chimeric fusion gene <i>CBFβ-SMMHC(MYH11)</i> as a result of an inversion/translocation event of chromosome 16 [inv(16)/t(16;16)]. In an effort to define the total complement of genetic changes in CBF-leukemia, we performed paired-end whole genome sequencing (WGS) on diagnostic leukemia blasts and matched germ line samples from 17 pediatric CBF-leukemia patients using the Illumina platform. Somatic alterations, including single nucleotide variations (SNVs) and structural variations (SVs), including insertions, deletions, inversions, and inter- and intra-chromosomal rearrangements, were detected using complementary analysis pipelines (Bambino, CREST and CONSERTING). Recurrent screening of identified mutations will be performed in a cohort of approximately 94 cases of CBF-leukemias.</p>
Project description:Purpose: Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has revolutionized systems-based analysis of cellular pathways. The goals of this study are to explore ChIPseq results for pediatric AML patients.
Project description:Different mechanisms for CBF-MYH11 function in acute myeloid Leukemia (AML) with inv(16) have been proposed such as tethering of RUNX1 outside the nucleus, interference with transcription factor complex assembly and recruitment of histone deacetylases, all resulting in transcriptional repression of RUNX1 target genes. Here, through genome-wide CBF-MYH11 binding site analysis and quantitative interaction proteomics we found that CBF-MYH11 localizes to RUNX1 occupied promoters where it interacts with TAL1, FLI1 and TBP associated factors (TAFs) in the context of the hematopoietic transcription factors ERG, GATA2 and PU.1/SPI1 and the co regulators EP300 and HDAC1. Transcriptional analysis revealed that upon fusion protein knock down a subset of the CBF-MYH11 target genes show increased expression, confirming a role in transcriptional repression. However, the majority of CBF-MYH11 target genes, including genes implicated in hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) self-renewal such as ID1, LMO1 and JAG1, are actively transcribed and upon fusion protein knock down repressed. Together these results suggest an essential role for CBF-MYH11 in regulating expression of genes involved in maintaining a stem cell phenotype.
Project description:In AML, most patients are initiated on standard chemotherapy and afterwards assigned to a post-remission strategy based on genetically-defined risk categories. However, outcomes remain heterogeneous, indicating the need for novel biomarker tests that can rapidly and accurately identify high-risk patients, allowing better stratification of both induction and post-remission therapy. As patient outcomes are linked to leukemia stem cell (LSC) properties that confer therapy resistance and drive relapse, LSC-based biomarkers may be highly informative. We tested 227 CD34/CD38 cell fractions from 78 AML patients for LSC activity in xenotransplantation assays. Comparison of microarray-based gene expression (GE) profiles between 138 LSC+ and 89 LSC? fractions identified 104 differentially-expressed LSC-specific genes. To obtain prognostic signatures, we performed statistical regression analysis of LSC GE against patient outcome using a training cohort of 495 AML patients treated with curative intent. A score calculated as the weighted sum of expression of 17 LSC signature genes (LSC17) was strongly associated with survival in 4 independent datasets (716 AML cases) spanning all risk categories in multi-variate analysis; an optimized 3-gene sub-score (LSC3) was prognostic in favorable risk subsets. These scores were robust across GE technology platforms, including the clinically serviceable NanoString system (LSC17: HR=2.73, P<0.0001; LSC3: HR=6.3, P<0.02). The LSC17 and LSC3 scores provide rapid and accurate identification of high-risk patients for whom conventional chemotherapy is non-curative. These scores will enable evaluation in clinical trials of whether such patients may benefit from novel and/or more intensified therapies during induction or in the post-remission setting.
Project description:Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogenous and complex blood cancer, with poor prognosis and wide-raging complications. Early identification and prediction of complications is vital for effective disease management. We performed longitudinal plasma profiling of 26 AML patients during chemotherapy-induced neutropenia, to explore the role of plasma proteins in evaluating the severity and prognosis of AML. We found that the majority of proteins varied in levels between patients, while remaining relatively stable within patients. Inflammatory proteins were significantly correlated with fever and its complications, and may serve as a useful biomarker panel to monitor AML patients during disease progression.