Mutation of C/EBPalpha predisposes to the development of myeloid leukemia in a retroviral insertional mutagenesis screen.

The CCAAT enhancer binding protein alpha (C/EBPalpha) is an important myeloid tumor suppressor that is frequently mutated in human acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We have previously shown that mice homozygous for the E2F repression-deficient Cebpa(BRM2) allele develop nonfatal AML with long latency and incomplete penetrance, suggesting that accumulation of secondary mutations is necessary for disease progression. Here, we use SRS19-6-driven retroviral insertional mutagenesis to compare the phenotypes of leukemias arising in Cebpa(+/+), Cebpa(+/BRM2), and Cebpa(BRM2/BRM2) mice, with respect to disease type, latency of tumor development, and identity of the retroviral insertion sites (RISs).

DNA quality assessment for array CGH by isothermal whole genome amplification.

Background: Array Comparative Genomic Hybridization (array CGH) is increasingly applied on DNA obtained from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue, but in a proportion of cases this type of DNA is unsuitable. Due to the high experimental costs of array CGH and unreliable methods for DNA quality testing, better prediction methods are needed. The aim of this study was to accurately determine the quality of FFPE DNA input in order to predict quality of array CGH outcome.