Expression data of CLL cells with and without NFAT2 expression

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a disorder of mature B cells. Most patients are characterized by indolent disease and an anergic phenotype of their leukemia cells which refers to a state of unresponsiveness to B cell receptor stimulation. Using the Eµ-TCL1 mouse model, we show that B cell-specific ablation of NFAT2 leads to the loss of the anergic phenotype culminating in a significantly compromised life expectancy and histological transformation to aggressive disease. We further define a gene expression signature of anergic CLL cells consisting of several NFAT2-dependant genes employing microarray technology. Splenic CLL cells from Eµ-TCL1 mice with and without NFAT2 expression (n=3 per gorup) were isolated and ex vivo analyzed for gene expression. We sought after differentially expressed NFAT2 target genes, which were responsible for the aggressive phenotype in TCL1 mice without NFAT2 expression.