Understanding the specific survival of the rare chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML) stem cell population could provide a target for therapeutics aimed at eradicating these cells. However, little is known about how survival signalling is regulated in CML stem cells. In this study, we survey global metabolic differences between murine normal haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and CML stem cells usi...

The acrocentric chromosome 22, one of the shortest human chromosomes, carries about 52 000 kb of DNA. The short arm is made up essentially of heterochromatin and, as in other acrocentric chromosomes, it contains ribosomal RNA genes. Ten identified genes have been assigned to the long arm, of which four have already been cloned and documented (the cluster of lambda immunoglobulin genes, myoglobi...

ARTICLE INFO Leukaemia stands for blood cancer that begins in the bone marrow and results in the generation of abnormal cells. Leukaemia is mainly classified as acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) and chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML).This thesis makes an effort to devise a methodology for the detection and classification of Leuk...

Leukaemia is a cancer of blood that causes more death than any other cancers among children and young adults under the age of 20. This disease can be cured if it is detected and treated at the early stage. Based on this argument, the requirement for fast analysis of blood cells for leukaemia is of paramount importance in the healthcare industry. This paper presents the classification of White B...

AIMS To investigate the association of acute parvovirus B19 infection with new onset of acute lymphoblastic and myeloblastic leukaemia. METHODS Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from patients with acute myelogenous leukaemia (AML) at diagnosis (n = 2) and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) at diagnosis (n = 14) were analysed for parvovirus B19 DNA by means of nested polymerase chain reaction...

AIMS To optimise a one step reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) protocol for BCR-ABL chimaera detection. METHODS Compared with published RT-PCR procedures, this novel approach has at least two advantages. First, the same enzyme is used for both reverse transcription and PCR. Second, amplification of the target (BCR-ABL chimaera) and control gene (ABL) is performed simulta...

Evidence from several in vitro and animal model studies suggests a modulatory role of haemopoietic, T(H)1 and T(H)2 cytokines in host defence against fungi, and highlights their potential utility as adjunctive therapy for management of systemic mycoses (SM). However, there are limited clinical data to support the use of cytokines in prevention and treatment of SM. Thus, at present no adjunctive...

Background Stat transcription factors are highly conserved key regulators of cellular processes such as proliferation, differentiation, growth and apoptosis. Stats have been frequently found to be deregulated in cancer. One example is the constitutive activation of Stat5 in chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML). The disease is caused by a chromosomal translocation resulting in the expression of t...

ABL1 tyrosine-kinase inhibitors (TKI) are front-line therapy for chronic myelogenous leukaemia and are among the best-known examples of targeted cancer therapeutics. However, the dynamic uptake into cells of TKIs of low molecular weight and their intracellular behaviour is unknown because of the difficulty of observing non-fluorescent small molecules at subcellular resolution. Here we report th...

Protein phosphorylation is known to play an important role in various cellular processes such as cell division, metabolism, survival and apoptosis. It is driven by specific enzymes, tyrosine and serine-threonine protein kinases. Human protein kinases constitute a complicated system with intricate internal and external interactions. The complexity and sophistication of the system implies its vul...