Gene expression profiling leads to new potential therapeutic targets for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia

We transplanted primary leukemia samples into NOD/SCID mice and demonstrated inferior survival for patients whose cells led to manifestation of disease within 10 weeks (time to leukemia short/TTLshort) in contrast to patient samples with prolonged in vivo growth (TTLlong). TTL phenotypes can be distinguished by a gene expression signature, which identified 2 genes with prognostic impact in an independent patient cohort: DDIT4L, inhibiting mTor, and PDE4A, involved in apoptosis signalling. This study investigates the role of these molecules for leukemia biology and as potential therapeutic targets. Primary leukem…