By screening different blood cancers, we have observed that this activity is not always restricted to CD34+ leukemic cells, and can be overexpressed in CD34 negative leukemia.
When ALL cells were sorted and assessed in functional assays, all 4 subpopulations (CD34+/CD99+, CD34+/CD99-, CD34-/CD99+ and CD34-/CD99-) could proliferate in vitro and establish leukemia in NSG mice.
Xenograft transplantation studies have demonstrated a rare population of leukemia-initiating cells called leukemic stem cells (LSCs) capable of propagating leukemia that are enriched in the CD34+/CD38- fraction.
We observed that CD7+/CD34+ or CD7+/CD34- T-ALL cells that promote leukemia within a short-time period are genetically similar, as well as xenograft-derived leukemia resulting from both cell fractions.
Together with the knowledge that WA had no apparent suppressive effect on the growth of human normal bone marrow CD34-positive cells in the short-term culture, this drug may have a potential for a novel therapeutic approach to the treatment of leukemia or MDS.
Ectopic expression of SOX7 in K562 and THP-1 cells, as well as primary CD33(+)CD34(+) AML cells, abrogated leukemia engraftment in xenogeneic transplantation.
Flk1(+)CD31(-)CD34(-) MSCs that express BCR/ABL leukemia oncogene are hemangioblasts and they have a critical role in the progression of CML through PI3K/Akt/NF-κB signaling pathway.
CD200 was more frequent in secondary compared to de novo leukemia (p = 0.0006), in CD34 positive cases (p = 0.00001), in Bcl2 overexpressing cases (p = 0.01), in those wild-type Flt3 (p = 0.004) and with favorable or unfavorable compared to intermediate karyotype (p = 0.0003).
We have also shown that CD34(+) /CD38(-) AML cells, one of compartments enriched for leukemia stem cells in most leukemia subgroups, were relatively resistant to cytarabine-mediated growth inhibition when compared to their CD34(+) /CD38(+) counterparts.
Moreover, Np9 protein level was correlated with the number of leukemia stem/progenitor cells but not detected in normal CD34(+) hematopoietic stem cells.
Combination treatment also statistically significantly enhanced apoptosis of CD34(+) leukemic stem/progenitor cells and eliminated their long-term leukemia-initiating activity in NSG mice.
Flk1(+)CD31(-)CD34(-) MSCs that express BCR/ABL leukemia oncogene are CSCs of CML and they play a critical role in the progression of CML through PI3K/Akt/NF-κB/MMP-9/s-ICAM-1/s-KitL signaling pathway beyond HSCs.
Relapse of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is thought to reflect the failure of current therapies to adequately target leukemia stem cells (LSCs), the rare, resistant cells presumed responsible for maintenance of the leukemia and typically enriched in the CD34(+)CD38(-) cell population.
Importantly, peptide inhibition of BCL6 in human CML cells compromises colony formation and leukemia initiation in transplant recipients and selectively eradicates CD34(+) CD38(-) LICs in patient-derived CML samples.
In concordance, gene expression profiles of 86 T-ALL patients revealed upregulation of stem cell markers (CD34 and CD133) as well as genes associated with poor outcome and pathogenesis of leukemia (MN1, BAALC, FLT3) in the high IGFBP7 expression group.