Activating c-KIT mutations confer oncogenic cooperativity and rescue RUNX1-ETO-induced DNA damage in human cells

REtr causes genomic instability in human CD34+ cells. Activated forms of c-KIT, like c-KIT(N822K), rescue the REtr-induced genomic instability by increasing the rate of DNA repair by homologous recombination. Human CD34+ hematopoietic progenitor cells were transduced with retroviral vectors encoding c-KIT(N822K) or mock control vectors, expanded in culture and FACS selected prior to molecular analysis.