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Review
. 2017 Sep 5;18(9):1904.
doi: 10.3390/ijms18091904.

Aberrant Signaling Pathways in T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Deborah Bongiovanni  1 , Valentina Saccomani  2 , Erich Piovan  3   4
Affiliations
Review

Aberrant Signaling Pathways in T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Deborah Bongiovanni et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is an aggressive disease caused by the malignant transformation of immature progenitors primed towards T-cell development. Clinically, T-ALL patients present with diffuse infiltration of the bone marrow by immature T-cell blasts high blood cell counts, mediastinal involvement, and diffusion to the central nervous system. In the past decade, the genomic landscape of T-ALL has been the target of intense research. The identification of specific genomic alterations has contributed to identify strong oncogenic drivers and signaling pathways regulating leukemia growth. Notwithstanding, T-ALL patients are still treated with high-dose multiagent chemotherapy, potentially exposing these patients to considerable acute and long-term side effects. This review summarizes recent advances in our understanding of the signaling pathways relevant for the pathogenesis of T-ALL and the opportunities offered for targeted therapy.

Keywords: PI3K/AKT; acute lymphoblastic leukemia; oncogenes; targeted therapy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic representation of signaling pathways aberrantly activated in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), tentatively subdivided as being mainly due to cell-extrinsic (shaded green) and cell-intrinsic factors (shaded red) or mixed (green and red).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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