Donor cell leukemia after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation might provide a unique human model for our understanding of leukemogenesis in vivo. We hypothesized that the "2-genetic-hits model" may contribute to the "leukemization" of donor cells and first evaluated these genetic mutations that are implicated in the development of acute myeloid leukemia in a donor cell leukemia p...

myeloid cell development in Xenopus. We show that cebpa is one of the first known hematopoietic genes expressed in the embryo. Lossand gain-of-function studies show that it is both necessary and sufficient for the development of functional myeloid cells. In addition, we show that cebpa misexpression leads to the precocious induction of myeloid cell markers in pluripotent prospective ectodermal ...

The CCAAT/enhancer binding protein, encoded by the CEBPA gene, is a transcription factor that induces the expression of genes involved in terminal differentiation of granulocytes. Recently, CEBPA mutations have been added to the list of single-gene mutations that may define a separate disease entity in cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukemia (CNAML), which is increasingly recognized as a ...

Adiponectin is exclusively expressed in adipose tissue and secreted from adipocytes, and shows anti-diabetic and anti-atherogenic properties. However, the precise transcriptional mechanism of adiponectin remains elusive. In this study, the 5' flanking promoter region of human adiponectin gene was analyzed using UCSC genome browser, and a 10 390-bp fragment, containing an evolutionally conserved...

BACKGROUND Aberrant activation of tyrosine kinases, caused by either mutation or gene fusion, is of major importance for the development of many hematologic malignancies, particularly myeloproliferative neoplasms. We hypothesized that hitherto unrecognized, cytogenetically cryptic tyrosine kinase fusions may be common in non-classical or atypical myeloproliferative neoplasms and related myelody...

Genetic mutations in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) with critical roles have been well examined. The recent discovery of alterations in genes encoding histone modifiers suggests their possible roles in the complexity of cancer development. We previously reported loss of heterozygosity of the KDM6B gene, which encodes a histone demethylase for trimethylated histone H3 lysine 27, a repre...

Different molecular aberrations can be discriminated into certain prognostic subgroups in cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukemia (CN-AML) patients but their impact on allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) remains controversial and studies from Asian populations are lacking. Forty-two adult non-M3 AML patients receiving allo-HSCT from 2002 to 2009 in southern Taiw...

The transcription factor, CCAAT enhancer binding protein alpha (C/EBPα), is crucial for granulopoiesis and is deregulated by various mechanisms in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Mutations in the CEBPA gene are reported in 10% of human patients with AML. Even though the C/EBPα mutants are known to display distinct biologic function during leukemogenesis, the molecular basis for this subtype of AM...