Alyssa Wu
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Dan Robinson
Co-Presenter:
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Pathology – MCTP / Medicine
Presentation Date: April 20
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: Session 1 – 10am – 10:50am
Room: League Ballroom
Authors: Alyssa Wu, Dan Robinson
Presenter: 42
Abstract
Lymphoblastic leukemia is the most common pediatric cancer. It is characterized by uncontrolled proliferation of lymphoblasts in the bone marrow, resulting in the replacement of other bone marrow elements. Several different driving genetic events have been identified in this cancer type, including rearrangements of the TAL1, TLX1, TLX3, or LYL1 genes, deletions at the CDKN2A/CDKN2B loci, and sequence alterations of WT1, PHF6, and NOTCH1. Through the Mi-OncoSeq clinical sequencing program at the University of Michigan, a case of T-lymphoblastic leukemia was sequenced and did not exhibit any of the known genetic aberrations in this cancer type. Notably, an in-frame gene fusion between MYB and FOXN1 was identified. MYB is a known oncogene encoding a protein that acts as a transcription activator and plays an important role in regulating hematopoiesis. FOXN1 is a key transcription factor that regulates the development of immune cells and is notably mutated in nude mice. We have cloned the MYB-FOXN1 fusions and generated a lentiviral expression construct. Infection of mouse bone marrow progenitor cells and implantation into recipient mice resulted in the development of a murine lymphoblastic leukemia. Introduction of the MYB-FOXN1 fusion into cells in vitro followed by RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq analysis revealed target sets of genes involved in the development of this cancer.
Biomedical Sciences, Natural/Life Sciences
