Molecular and functional analysis of the stem cell compartment of chronic myelogenous leukemia reveals the presence of a CD34- cell population with intrinsic resistance to imatinib

Posted by rob on December 14, 2009 under Uncategorized | Comments are off for this article

We show the molecular and functional characterization of a novel population of lineage-negative CD34-negative (Lin–CD34–) hematopoietic stem cells from chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) patients at diagnosis. Molecular karyotyping and quantitative analysis of BCR-ABL transcript demonstrated that approximately one-third of CD34– cells are leukemic. CML Lin–CD34– cells showed kinetic quiescence and limited clonogenic capacity. However, stroma-dependent cultures induced CD34 expression on some cells and cell cycling, and increased clonogenic activity and expression of BCR-ABL transcript. Lin–CD34– cells showed hematopoietic cell engraftment rate in 2 immunodeficient mouse strains similar to Lin-CD34+ cells, whereas endothelial cell engraftment was si…
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