Project description:The bone marrow microenvironment in Large Granular Lymphocyte Leukemia (LGLL) patients has been unexplored for it’s role in the development of cytopenias, which lead to complications resulting in the most prominent causes of morbidity and mortality. We used microarrays on primary mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) cultures isolated from bone marrow aspirates from LGLL patients to identify genetic programs that may lead to the observed profibrotic and extrinsically senescent phenotype.
Project description:The bone marrow microenvironment in Large Granular Lymphocyte Leukemia (LGLL) patients has been unexplored for it’s role in the development of cytopenias, which lead to complications resulting in the most prominent causes of morbidity and mortality. We used microarrays on primary mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) cultures isolated from bone marrow aspirates from LGLL patients to identify genetic programs that may lead to the observed profibrotic and extrinsically senescent phenotype. Isolated primary MSC cultures were maintained under reduced oxygen conditions (2%). All cultures displayed trilineage pluripotency (adipogenesis, osteogenesis, and chondrogenesis). For comparison, normal MSC cultures in early passage (p2-3; same number of population doublings as the LGLL MSCs) and later passage (p7-9; same time spent in culture as the LGLL MSCs) are included.
Project description:Our results suggest that STAT3 can be activated independent of key oncogenic driver mutations in its SH2 domain in a subset of patients with large granular lymphocyte disorders. We examined the gene expression pattern in T-LGL leukemias compared to controls, and the impact of the presence of STAT3 mutations on the transcriptional regulation of a specific set of genes previously described.