Comparing gene expression in stem/progenitor cells from patients with CML in chronic, accelerated and blastic phase with normal volunteers

A comparison of global gene expression between rigorously defined stem and progenitor cells from patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) in chronic (CP), accelerated (AP) and blastic (BC) phase and similar populations isolated from normal volunteers. Cryopreserved CD34+ enriched cell populations obtained from patients with CML in CP, AP or BC at diagnosis prior to treatment -- or from normal volunteers -- were thawed and flow sorted into rigorously defined sub-populations (HSC, MPP, CMP, GMP and MEP -- using surface phenotype as described below). Total RNA was obtained and global gene expression measured following hybridisation to Affymetrix HuGene-1_0-st-v1 gene-chips. In total, 3 normal patient samples were compared with 6 CP, 4 AP and 2 BC samples. HSC, CMP, GMP and MEP populations were obtained from all specimens, MPP populations were obtained from normal, AP and BC specimens but not CP specimens.