The ecology in the hematopoietic stem cell niche determines the clinical outcome in chronic myeloid leukemia.

ABSTRACT: Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a blood disease that disrupts normal function of the hematopoietic system. Despite the great progress made in terms of molecular therapies for CML, there remain large gaps in our understanding. By comparing mathematical models that describe CML progression and etiology we sought to identify those models that provide the best description of disease dynamics and their underlying mechanisms. Data for two clinical outcomes--disease remission or relapse--are considered, and we investigate these using Bayesian inference techniques throughout. We find that it is not possible to choose between the models based on fits to the data alone; however, by studying model predictions we can discard models that fail to take niche effects into account. More detailed analysis

SUBMITTER: MacLean AL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3956166 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature