Research Paper Volume 2, Issue 12 pp 908—913
The age of the target cell affects B-cell leukaemia malignancy
- 1 Experimental Therapeutics and Translational Oncology Program, Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular del Cáncer, CSIC/ Universidad de Salamanca, Campus M. de Unamuno s/n, 37007- Salamanca, Spain
- 2 Departamento de Fisiología y Farmacología, Universidad de Salamanca, Edificio Departamental, Campus M. de Unamuno s/n, 37007- Salamanca, Spain
- 3 Departamento de Cirugía, Universidad de Salamanca, Spain
- 4 Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa, CSIC/Universidad Autónoma, Madrid, Spain
Received: December 3, 2010 Accepted: December 10, 2010 Published: December 11, 2010
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.100244How to Cite
Abstract
The incidence, malignancy and treatment resistance of many types of human B-cell leukaemias (B-ALL) are directly related to patient age. A major obstacle to elucidate the contribution of age to the development and evolution of leukaemias is the lack of appropriate mouse models where precise control of the timing of oncogene expression is possible. Here we present proof-of-principle experiments showing how a conditional transgenic mouse model of BCR-ABLp190-driven B-ALL offers the opportunity to test the hypothesis that the age of the leukemic cells-of-origin of B-ALL influences B-ALL malignancy. B-ALLs generated from 12- and 20-month-old progenitors gave rise to a more invasive B-ALL than the one developed from 4-month old precursors. This was evidenced by survival analysis revealing the increased malignancy of B-ALLs generated from 20 or 12-month-old transformed progenitors compared with the 4-month equivalents (median survival of 88 days versus 50.5 and 33 days, respectively). Our study shows that the age of target cells at the time of transformation affects B-ALL malignancy.