Ectopic expression of the oncogene TLX3 in DN-like stage

It is now well established that members of the homeobox gene family play a critical role in normal hematopoietic cell development and that their unbalanced or ectopic expression can lead to characteristic perturbations in haemopoiesis and the onset of leukaemia. TLX3 expression in human haematologic malignancies is exclusive to T-ALL, where it is almost universally associated with transformation of early cortical CD4+CD8+ DP thymocytes. investigated the impact of ectopic TLX3 expression on T cell development, and the initiating mechanisms of T-cell transformation leading to leukemia onset. Forced expression of TLX3 disrupted the thymic develoment at DN-like stage giving rise to immortalized preleukemic clones. Gene expression data from 2 culture conditions was performed for the following cells: DN thymocytes from Rag2-/- mice and sorted DN thymocytes from wild-type mice transduced with TLX3 and cultured on OP9-DL1 . All conditions are performed in three replicates.