title: The age of the target cell affects B-cell leukaemia malignancy.
abstract: The incidence, malignancy and treatment resistance of many types of human B-cell leukaemias (B-ALL) are directly related to patient age. A major obstacle to elucidate the contribution of age to the development and evolution of leukaemias is the lack of appropriate mouse models where precise control of the timing of oncogene expression is possible. Here we present proof-of-principle experiments showing how a conditional transgenic mouse model of BCR-ABLp190-driven B-ALL offers the opportunity to test the hypothesis that the age of the leukemic cells-of-origin of B-ALL influences B-ALL malignancy. B-ALLs generated from 12- and 20-month-old progenitors gave rise to a more invasive B-ALL than the one developed from 4-month old precursors. This was evidenced by survival analysis revealing the increased malignancy of B-ALLs generated from 20 or 12-month-old transformed progenitors compared with the 4-month equivalents (median survival of 88 days versus 50.5 and 33 days, respectively). Our study shows that the age of target cells at the time of transformation affects B-ALL malignancy.
authors.affiliation: Experimental Therapeutics and Translational Oncology Program, Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular del Cáncer, CSIC/ Universidad de Salamanca, Campus M. de Unamuno s/n, 37007- Salamanca, Spain. cvd@usal.es; isg@usal.es
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vicente-Dueñas
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Abollo-Jiménez
authors.forename: Lucía
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Roca
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Alonso-Escudero
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jiménez
authors.forename: María Begoña García
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Cenador
authors.forename: Francisco Javier García
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Criado
authors.forename: César
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cobaleda
authors.forename: Isidro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sánchez-García
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D002460:Cell Line; D002470:Cell Survival; D016922:Cellular Senescence; D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016313:Genes, abl; D006801:Humans; D015448:Leukemia, B-Cell / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D007942:Leukemia, Experimental / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: C406060:abl-bcr fusion protein, human; D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl