Publications by authors named "Mullighan C"

Article Synopsis
  • T-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) presents as an aggressive cancer with diverse subtypes, making traditional classification difficult.
  • A multiomics analysis of bone marrow samples revealed a specific subset of T-lineage ALL with active inflammatory and stem gene programs, showing unique biological and treatment response characteristics.
  • A computational inflammatory gene signature scoring system was developed to better classify patients, identifying a high-risk subtype that could guide targeted therapies for more effective treatment approaches.
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Genomic alterations of are common and associated with adverse clinical features in B-ALL. The relationship between the type of alteration, disease subtype and outcome are incompletely understood. Leukemia subtype and genomic alterations were determined using transcriptome and genomic sequencing and SNP microarray in 688 pediatric patients with B-ALL in St.

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Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) is a mature T-cell lymphoma that accounts for 10-15% of childhood lymphomas. Despite the observation that more than 90% of pediatric cases harbor the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangement resulting in aberrant ALK kinase expression, there is significant clinical, morphologic, and biological heterogeneity. To gain insights into the genomic aberrations and molecular heterogeneity within ALK-positive ALCL (ALK+ ALCL), we analyzed 46 pediatric ALK+ ALCLs by whole-exome sequencing, RNA sequencing, and DNA methylation profiling.

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Refractoriness to initial chemotherapy and relapse after remission are the main obstacles to curing T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). While tumor heterogeneity has been implicated in treatment failure, the cellular and genetic factors contributing to resistance and relapse remain unknown. Here we linked tumor subpopulations with clinical outcome, created an atlas of healthy pediatric hematopoiesis and applied single-cell multiomic analysis to a diverse cohort of 40 T-ALL cases.

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Article Synopsis
  • PeCan-Seq is a deep sequencing method developed to analyze circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in children with various cancers, particularly leukemias.
  • The study found that ctDNA was detectable in nearly all children with hematologic malignancies, identifying 97% of expected tumor variants, while it was less effective for solid tumors and brain cancers.
  • PeCan-Seq offers a non-invasive way to monitor disease progression and detect mutations, making it a valuable tool for understanding childhood cancers.
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Chromosomal translocations involving the mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL) locus generate potent oncogenic fusion proteins (oncoproteins) that disrupt regulation of developmental gene expression. By profiling the oncoprotein-target sites of 36 broadly representative MLL-rearranged leukemia samples, including three samples that underwent a lymphoid-to-myeloid lineage-switching event in response to therapy, we find the genomic enrichment of the oncoprotein is highly variable between samples and subject to dynamic regulation. At high levels of expression, the oncoproteins preferentially activate either an acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) program, enriched for pro-B-cell genes, or an acute myeloid leukemia (AML) program, enriched for hematopoietic-stem-cell genes.

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Effective treatment of pediatric acute leukemia is dependent on accurate genomic classification, typically derived from a combination of multiple time-consuming and costly techniques such as flow cytometry, fluorescence hybridization (FISH), karyotype analysis, targeted PCR, and microarrays (Arber et al., 2016; Iacobucci & Mullighan, 2017; Narayanan & Weinberg, 2020). We investigated the feasibility of a comprehensive single-assay classification approach using long-read sequencing, with real-time genome target enrichment, to classify chromosomal abnormalities and structural variants characteristic of acute leukemia.

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Cure rates for patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) have improved markedly in recent decades, in part due to risk stratification incorporating leukemia genomics, response to treatment, and clinical features to be able to determine at diagnosis which patients are more likely to relapse or have refractory disease. While risk stratification is well-developed for patients with B lineage ALL (B-ALL), it remains challenging for those with T lineage ALL (T-ALL). Prognostic factors validated across clinical trials and real-world data in T-ALL include age, central nervous system (CNS) involvement, and minimal residual disease (MRD) response.

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Children with ETV6::RUNX1 or high-hyperdiploid B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) have favorable outcomes. The St. Jude (SJ) classification considers these patients low risk, regardless of their National Cancer Institute (NCI) risk classification, except when there is slow minimal residual disease (MRD) response or central nervous system/testicular involvement.

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  • The study investigates how genetic ancestry affects the biology and survival outcomes of children and young adults with T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (T-ALL), focusing on associations between ancestry, genomic subtypes, and overall and event-free survival rates.
  • Among 1309 patients, it was found that T-ALL molecular subtypes differed significantly based on genetic ancestry, with African ancestry patients having a higher prevalence of certain high-risk subtypes.
  • The research highlights that existing risk classification models may inaccurately assess patients of African ancestry, suggesting that incorporating genetic ancestry into cancer prognosis and treatment strategies is crucial for more accurate risk stratification.
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T-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL) is a high-risk tumour that has eluded comprehensive genomic characterization, which is partly due to the high frequency of noncoding genomic alterations that result in oncogene deregulation. Here we report an integrated analysis of genome and transcriptome sequencing of tumour and remission samples from more than 1,300 uniformly treated children with T-ALL, coupled with epigenomic and single-cell analyses of malignant and normal T cell precursors. This approach identified 15 subtypes with distinct genomic drivers, gene expression patterns, developmental states and outcomes.

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  • Large datasets of clinical and omics measurements drive the need for new statistical methods to help scientists integrate this data and discover new insights.
  • The proposed method, BEAM (bootstrap evaluation of association matrices), effectively combines multiple omics profiles with clinical endpoints, utilizing regression models and bootstrap resampling to identify significant associations.
  • BEAM outperformed other methods in simulations and successfully identified important genes in pediatric leukemia research, showing its potential as a valuable tool for further studies available on GitHub and CRAN.
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Article Synopsis
  • Despite high cure rates for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), it remains a major cause of cancer-related deaths in children, especially among those initially classified as standard-risk (SR).
  • Researchers analyzed genomic data from over 1,300 children with ALL to identify factors influencing relapse, focusing on comparing patients who relapsed against those who stayed in remission for five years.
  • Findings indicated that specific genomic subtypes and chromosomal alterations significantly affect relapse risk, highlighting the need for detailed genetic analysis to improve risk assessment and treatment strategies in childhood ALL.
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Purpose: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) can occur across all age groups, with a strikingly higher cure rate in children compared with adults. However, the pharmacological basis of age-related differences in ALL treatment response remains unclear.

Methods: Studying 767 children and 309 adults with newly diagnosed B-cell ALL enrolled on frontline trials at St Jude Children's Research Hospital, MD Anderson Cancer Center, the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, and the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group, we determined the ex vivo sensitivity of leukemia cells to 21 drugs.

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Background: Many older adults with B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (BCP-ALL) have a relapse despite having a measurable residual disease (MRD)-negative complete remission with combination chemotherapy. The addition of blinatumomab, a bispecific T-cell engager molecule that is approved for the treatment of relapsed, refractory, and MRD-positive BCP-ALL, may have efficacy in patients with MRD-negative remission.

Methods: In a phase 3 trial, we randomly assigned patients 30 to 70 years of age with -negative BCP-ALL (with :: indicating fusion) who had MRD-negative remission (defined as <0.

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Article Synopsis
  • Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (γδ T-ALL) is a rare and complex condition in children, prompting a study of 200 pediatric cases to identify its clinical and genetic characteristics.
  • The research revealed that very young children (under 3 years) with γδ T-ALL face a significantly high risk and display specific genetic changes, particularly involving STAG2 inactivation and LMO2 activation.
  • Importantly, their findings suggest that targeting DNA repair pathways linked to STAG2 inactivation with specific drugs could offer new treatment options and help classify patients based on their risk levels.
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Article Synopsis
  • Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) is a type of blood cancer marked by the rapid growth of immature lymphoid cells, with major advancements in its understanding and management over recent decades.
  • Progress in treatment has included the exploration of innovative therapies guided by genomic profiling, leading to targeted treatments like tyrosine kinase inhibitors and immunotherapies that show fewer side effects.
  • Breakthroughs such as chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy and better monitoring techniques have improved patient outcomes, allowing for tailored treatment approaches and enhanced quality of life.
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Chronological aging correlates with epigenetic modifications at specific loci, calibrated to species lifespan. Such 'epigenetic clocks' appear conserved among mammals, but whether they are cell autonomous and restricted by maximal organismal lifespan remains unknown. We used a multilifetime murine model of repeat vaccination and memory T cell transplantation to test whether epigenetic aging tracks with cellular replication and if such clocks continue 'counting' beyond species lifespan.

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Article Synopsis
  • γδ T cells play a crucial role in immune responses by quickly producing interferon-γ (IFN-γ), especially during the perinatal period when there's an increase in these cells that express CD8αβ heterodimers.
  • Their development relies on low T cell receptor signaling, supported by interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-7, which helps regulate their growth.
  • Aberrations in IL-7R-STAT5B signaling can lead to an excessive number of these cells in certain diseases, and they are also linked to pediatric cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
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The phase 3 INO-VATE trial demonstrated higher rates of remission, measurable residual disease negativity, and improved overall survival for patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who received inotuzumab ozogamicin (InO) vs standard-of-care chemotherapy (SC). Here, we examined associations between genomic alterations and the efficacy of InO. Of 326 randomized patients, 91 (InO, n = 43; SC, n = 48) had samples evaluable for genomic analysis.

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Article Synopsis
  • Researchers studied how leukemia develops in B cells and its impact on drug sensitivity.
  • They found that different developmental states of B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) significantly affect how sensitive the leukemia is to asparaginase, a chemotherapy drug.
  • By targeting a specific protein (BCL2) in resistant leukemia cells, they showed that combining it with asparaginase improves treatment effectiveness, highlighting potential strategies for personalized therapy in B-ALL and possibly other cancers.
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Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) is a mature T-cell lymphoma that accounts for for 10-15% of childhood lymphomas. Despite the observation that more than 90% of pediatric cases harbor the anaplastic lymphoma kinase ( rearrangement resulting in aberrant ALK kinase expression, there is significant clinical, morphologic, and biological heterogeneity. To gain insights into the genomic aberrations and molecular heterogeneity within ALK-positive ALCL(ALK+ ALCL), we analyzed 46 pediatric ALK+ ALCLs by whole-exome sequencing, RNA-sequencing, and DNA methylation profiling.

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