Characterization of mesenchymal stem cells in pre-B acute lymphoblastic leukemia

The way in which leukemia develops, progresses and responds to treatment is mediated largely by components of the bone marrow microenvironment (BMM). Increasing evidence shows that leukemic cells hijack the BMM, altering its functioning and establishing leukemia-supportive interactions with stromal and immune cells. While previous work has highlighted functional defects in the mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) population from the BMM of acute leukemias, a thorough characterization and molecular profiling of MSCs of pre-B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), the most common cancer in children, has not been conducted. Here, we investigated the transcriptome profiles of MSCs isolated from the BMM of an immunocompetent BCR-ABL1+ model of B-ALL. Overall design: MSCs were isolated from long bones of control or leukemia mice (4-7 mice pooled per sample). Two biological replicates were sequenced for both control and leukemia-associated MSCs.