Mutations in ATM (ataxia-telangiectasia mutated), a kinase that coordinates DSB monitoring and the response to DNA damage, result in impaired T-cell development and predispose to T-cell leukemia.
The strong predisposition of AT patients to develop T-PLL and the high frequency of T-cell leukemias/lymphomas observed in atm-deficient mice, together with the known functions of the ATM protein, led us to evaluate the ATM gene as a potential tumor suppressor gene involved in T-PLL.
Ataxia-telangiectasia and T-cell leukemias: no evidence for somatic ATM mutation in sporadic T-ALL or for hypermethylation of the ATM-NPAT/E14 bidirectional promoter in T-PLL.