BIRC5 Upregulation Enhances DNMT3A-Mutant T-ALL Cell Survival and Pathogenesis

The goal of this study was to determine how patients with T-ALL who have DNA methyltransferase 3 alpha (DNMT3A) mutations develop resistance to therapy. Since DNMT3A is a methyltransferase, we examined the effect of those mutations on epigenetic regulation using whole genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS). We also assessed any changes in gene expression using RNA-sequencing. We found that T-ALL patients with DNMT3A mutations are resistant to apoptosis and some chemotherapies. WGBS showed that DNMT3A mutated patients clustered together by their epigenetic profile, which was associated with hypomethylation at TERT and HOX genes. RNA sequencing identified differences in JAK/STAT signaling.