New driver of T cell leukemia growth
2010-09-20
(Press-News.org) NKX3.1, a protein that suppresses the development of prostate tumors, promotes the growth of a different type of tumor in the blood, according to an article published online on September 20 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (www.jem.org).
Paul-Henri Romeo and colleagues find that TAL1, a protein abundantly expressed in approximately 40% of patients with T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), drives expression of NKX3.1. Eliminating NKX3.1 halted the growth of TAL1-expressing T-ALL cells in culture and after injection into mice.
It's not yet clear how NKX3.1 sustains the growth of T-ALL cells, but these findings show that this protein can either halt or hasten tumor development depending on the tissue environment.
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About The Journal of Experimental Medicine
The Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM) is published by The Rockefeller University Press. All editorial decisions on manuscripts submitted are made by active scientists in conjunction with our in-house scientific editors. JEM content is posted to PubMed Central, where it is available to the public for free six months after publication. Authors retain copyright of their published works and third parties may reuse the content for non-commercial purposes under a creative commons license. For more information, please visit www.jem.org.
Kusy, S., et al. 2010. J. Exp. Med. doi:10.1084/jem.20100745.
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[Press-News.org] New driver of T cell leukemia growth
