Effect of BCAT1 depletion on sensitivity to Etoposide in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells

High levels of branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) transaminase 1 (Bcat1) have been associated with adverse prognosis and drug resistance in several cancer types. However, the mechanistic role of Bcat1 in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) development is ill defined.We determined the effects of BCAT1 depletion on cellular sensitivity to DNA damaging agents (etoposide). To study the effects of BCAT1 depletion on cellular sensitivity to DNA damaging agents (etoposide), we performed gene expression profiling by mRNA-seq in CCRF-CEM T-ALL cells depleted of BCAT1 by shRNA. CCRF-CEM cells were transduced with control or two BCAT1-targeting shRNAs (#223, #329) and treated with etoposide (1uM) or vehicle (DMSO) for 24h.