Expression data from chronic myeloid leukemia and normal bone marrow stem and progenitor cells

Chronic myeloid leukemia is a disease originated at the level of hematopoietic stem cell, characterized by the abnormal overproduction and accumulation, both in blood and bone marrow, of myeloid cells. Treatment options include tyrosine kinase inhibitors that inhibit BCR-ABL activity, however some patients develop resistance to these drugs and has been asociated to the stem cells We have performed a comparative analysis of the global gene expression profiles between CML and normal HSCs. Our goal was to identify key genes and pathways –preferentially, or solely, expressed by LSCs- that could be used as markers for the identification and selection of LSC LSC(CD34+ CD38- lineage-negative cells), and as targets for inhibiting the growth of such cells. We have also analyzed the population of progenitor cells (CD34+ CD38+ Lin- cells) since it has been clearly shown that these cells play an important role in the pathophysiology of CML Stem and progenitor cells of chronic myeloid leukemia patients and normal bone marrow were isolated by FACS, stem cells were lysed after FACS and one fraction of progenitor cells were lysed and other fraction were cultured with or without imatinib.