The B Cell Mutator AID Promotes B Lymphoid Blast Crisis and Drug Resistance in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

Lars Klemm, Cihangir Duy, Ilaria Iacobucci, Stefan Kuchen, Gregor von Levetzow, Niklas Feldhahn, Nadine Henke, Zhiyu Li, Thomas K. Hoffmann, Yong mi Kim, Wolf Karsten Hofmann, Hassan Jumaa, John Groffen, Nora Heisterkamp, Giovanni Martinelli, Michael R. Lieber, Rafael Casellas, Markus Müschen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

133 Scopus citations

Abstract

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is induced by BCR-ABL1 and can be effectively treated for many years with Imatinib until leukemia cells acquire drug resistance through BCR-ABL1 mutations and progress into fatal B lymphoid blast crisis (LBC). Despite its clinical significance, the mechanism of progression into LBC is unknown. Here, we show that LBC but not CML cells express the B cell-specific mutator enzyme AID. We demonstrate that AID expression in CML cells promotes overall genetic instability by hypermutation of tumor suppressor and DNA repair genes. Importantly, our data uncover a causative role of AID activity in the acquisition of BCR-ABL1 mutations leading to Imatinib resistance, thus providing a rationale for the rapid development of drug resistance and blast crisis progression.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)232-245
Number of pages14
JournalCancer Cell
Volume16
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 8 2009

Keywords

  • CELLCYCLE

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