Heterogeneity of CD34 and CD38 expression in acute B lymphoblastic leukemia cells is reversible and not hierarchically organized.

Zhiwu Jiang,Suna Wang,Xinru Wei,Jianyu Weng,Wei Ye,Pentao Liu,Yuguo Ma,Peng Li,Duanqing Pei,Xin Liu,Yao Yao,Wei Wei,Donghai Wu,Yiren Xiao,Xin Du,Yangqiu Li,Gong Zhang,Baiheng Li,Manman Deng,Haijia Chen,Peilong Lai,Shudong Lin

doi:10.1186/s13045-016-0310-1

Abstract

The existence and identification of leukemia-initiating cells in adult acute B lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) remain controversial. We examined whether adult B-ALL is hierarchically organized into phenotypically distinct subpopulations of leukemogenic and non-leukemogenic cells or whether most B-ALL cells retain leukemogenic capacity, irrespective of their immunophenotype profiles. Our results suggest that adult B-ALL follows the stochastic stem cell model and that the expression of CD34 and CD38 in B-ALL is reversibly and not hierarchically organized.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13045-016-0310-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Highlights

The existence and identification of leukemia-initiating cells in adult acute B lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) remain controversial
To improve the cure and survival rates of adults, there is an increasing need to understand the biology of Acute B lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) and to characterize the leukemia-initiating cells (LICs) in BALL if they exist [5, 6]
* Correspondence: xubingzhangjian@126.com; li_peng@gibh.ac.cn †Equal contributors 4Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen 361003, China 1State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 190 Kaiyuan Avenue, Science Park, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510530, China Full list of author information is available at the end of the article expressed CD19, CD34, CD38, and CD45 in serial transplanted NSI mice closely recapitulated the immunophenotypes of the original patient (Additional file 4: Figure S1, S2A)

Summary

Introduction

The existence and identification of leukemia-initiating cells in adult acute B lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) remain controversial. * Correspondence: xubingzhangjian@126.com; li_peng@gibh.ac.cn †Equal contributors 4Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen 361003, China 1State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 190 Kaiyuan Avenue, Science Park, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510530, China Full list of author information is available at the end of the article expressed CD19, CD34, CD38, and CD45 in serial transplanted NSI mice closely recapitulated the immunophenotypes of the original patient (Additional file 4: Figure S1, S2A).

Results

Conclusion