Vital genes vs childhood leukemia

• April 23, 2024

Researchers in the The University of Western Ontario identified genes that may be important to prevent acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children (ALL, for its acronym in English) is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow.

Within this disease we find the B-cell lymphoblastic leukemia precursors or acute B-cell lymphocytic leukemia ; the most common type of ALL. It is a type of leukemia of rapid evolution (grows rapidly) which are too many B cell lymphoblasts (immature white blood cells) in the bone marrow and in the blood, without ever finishing developing in lymphocytes (mature white blood cells);

It is frequently associated with mutations or chromosomal abnormalities that occur during fetal development, so it is found primarily in children, in fact 80% of these cases are linked to the B-cell lymphoblastic leukemia

The investigation

Mutations were produced in mice, both in the PU.1 and Spi-B gene which generated that 100% of the mice developed infoblastic leukemia type B . These genes seem to be essential in the prevention of uncontrolled development of lymphoblasts

The genes

1. PU.1 : it is an essential gene in the development of the immune system; they help the proliferation of lymphoblasts and control their maturation to lymphocytes.


2. Spi-B : this gene acts as a replacement for PU.1 , that is, in case the latter fails, one has as an emergency the activation of the Spi-B , so the immune system It should develop well.

But imagine that the PU.1 will fail and when our body turns to Spi-B it turns out that it is also defective, then our organism is left without reinforcements and our B lymphoblasts they begin to reproduce without control, but they never become lymphocytes , so our blood becomes saturated with immature and dysfunctional white blood cells.

The study hopes to encourage the creation of less toxic therapy for children suffering from this cancer. Currently 80% of patients achieve a total remission of the disease when treated with a aggressive chemotherapy.

To know a bit more

The different subgroups of ALL in children are classified according to the conditions in which the leukemia occurs:

1. If the type of affected blood cell it looks more like a B lymphocytes or a T lymphocyte


2. The child's age at the time of diagnosis; for example, if the child is less than 1 year old, is 1 to 10 years old, or is older than 10 years old (adolescent).


3. If there are certain changes in chromosomes; example on the Philadelphia chromosome.
    

Video Medicine: Identifying methylation biomarkers for childhood leukaemia using ABC.RAP R package (April 2024).