Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Aug 17;23(8):2060.
doi: 10.3390/molecules23082060.

Turning Stem Cells Bad: Generation of Clinically Relevant Models of Human Acute Myeloid Leukemia through Gene Delivery- or Genome Editing-Based Approaches

Affiliations
Review

Turning Stem Cells Bad: Generation of Clinically Relevant Models of Human Acute Myeloid Leukemia through Gene Delivery- or Genome Editing-Based Approaches

Maria Mesuraca et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the most common acute leukemia in the adult, is believed to arise as a consequence of multiple molecular events that confer on primitive hematopoietic progenitors unlimited self-renewal potential and cause defective differentiation. A number of genetic aberrations, among which a variety of gene fusions, have been implicated in the development of a transformed phenotype through the generation of dysfunctional molecules that disrupt key regulatory mechanisms controlling survival, proliferation, and differentiation in normal stem and progenitor cells. Such genetic aberrations can be recreated experimentally to a large extent, to render normal hematopoietic stem cells "bad", analogous to the leukemic stem cells. Here, we wish to provide a brief outline of the complementary experimental approaches, largely based on gene delivery and more recently on gene editing, employed over the last two decades to gain insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying AML development and progression and on the prospects that their applications offer for the discovery and validation of innovative therapies.

Keywords: acute myeloid leukemia; chromosomal translocations; genetic aberrations; genome editing; leukemia stem cells; viral vectors; xenotransplants.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. De Kouchkovsky I., Abdul-Hay M. Acute myeloid leukemia: A comprehensive review and 2016 update. Blood Cancer J. 2016;6:e441. doi: 10.1038/bcj.2016.50. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Scholl C., Gilliland D.G., Fröhling S. Deregulation of signaling pathways in acute myeloid leukemia. Semin. Oncol. 2008;35:336–345. doi: 10.1053/j.seminoncol.2008.04.004. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kentsis A., Reed C., Rice K.L., Sanda T., Rodig S.J., Tholouli E., Christie A., Valk P.J., Delwel R., Ngo V., et al. Autocrine activation of the MET receptor tyrosine kinase in acute myeloid leukemia. Nat. Med. 2012;18:1118–1122. doi: 10.1038/nm.2819. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sun Y., Chen B.R., Deshpande A. Epigenetic Regulators in the Development, Maintenance, and Therapeutic Targeting of Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Front. Oncol. 2018;8:41. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2018.00041. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dash A., Gilliland D.G. Molecular genetics of acute myeloid leukaemia. Best Pract. Res. Clin. Haematol. 2001;14:49–64. doi: 10.1053/beha.2000.0115. - DOI - PubMed