Gene expression profiling of Down Syndrome (DS)-AMKL and non-DS AMKL samples

The goal of this study is to define a gene expression signature unique to DS-AMKL (acute megakaryoblastic leukemia or FAB M7 leukemia). A similar study was done previously, but using unfractionated patient leukemic samples. In this study, we sorted megakaryocytic leukemia blasts from patients and then compared their gene expression signatures to those from similarly sorted blasts from patients with non-DS AMKL. This allowed us to identify a gene expression signature more unique to DS-AMKL samples. The leukemic blasts were sorted based on CD41, CD7, CD117, CD33, and CD34 antibodies as previously described (Klin. Padiatr. 217, 126-134).