engleski

Ikaros and Notch transcription factors in lymphocyte differentiation

Leukemic cells arise from cells stopped at various developmental stages during differentiation. We study the mechanisms of leukemia development by analyzing genes involved in hematopoietic differentiation. Gene targeting studies show that major players in the commitment of hematopoietic progenitors are Ikaros and Notch transcription factors and inappropriate expression of these genes might be involved in leukemogenesis. Accordingly, we analyzed the differential expression of Ikaros transcription factors and their splicing variants in the most frequent leukemia types, CLL, ALL and AML and in hematological cell lines. By means of qRT-PCR we show that mRNA expression of Ikaros, Aiolos and Helios varies in our samples. We provide evidence that splicing variants of these transcription factors occur but they are not restricted to leukemic cells only. Further, we show here that the Notch ligand DL1 has an important role in the induced differentiation of leukemic cells.

Ikaros; Notch; lymphocytes; differentiation

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