A new subspecies of found in the Australian terrestrial leech .

Previously, it was suggested that haemadipsid leeches represent an important vector of trypanosomes amongst native animals in Australia. Consequently, Chtonobdella bilineata leeches were investigated for the presence of trypanosome species by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), DNA sequencing and in vitro isolation. Phylogenetic analysis ensued to further define the populations present.

The PDK1 master kinase is over-expressed in acute myeloid leukemia and promotes PKC-mediated survival of leukemic blasts.

PDK1 is a master kinase that activates at least six protein kinase groups including AKT, PKC and S6K and is a potential target in the treatment of a range of malignancies. Here we show overexpression of PDK1 in over 40% of myelomonocytic acute leukemia patients. Overexpression of PDK1 occurred uniformly throughout the leukemic population, including putative leukemia-initiating cells.

Overproduction of NOX-derived ROS in AML promotes proliferation and is associated with defective oxidative stress signaling.

Excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is frequently observed in cancer and is known to strongly influence hematopoietic cell function. Here we report that extracellular ROS production is strongly elevated (mean >10-fold) in >60% of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients and that this increase is attributable to constitutive activation of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidases (NOX). In contrast, overproduction of mitochondrial ROS was rarely observed.