Sowing the seeds of leukemia before birth

Each year, ∼200,000 babies worldwide are born with Down syndrome (DS), owing to constitutional trisomy of chromosome 21 (T21) (1). Children with DS have a markedly increased risk of leukemia, particularly in their first 4 years. Almost 60,000 (30%) will harbor within their blood cells damaging, feta...

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Main Authors: Roberts, I, Vyas, P
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science 2021
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author Roberts, I
Vyas, P
author_facet Roberts, I
Vyas, P
author_sort Roberts, I
collection OXFORD
description Each year, ∼200,000 babies worldwide are born with Down syndrome (DS), owing to constitutional trisomy of chromosome 21 (T21) (1). Children with DS have a markedly increased risk of leukemia, particularly in their first 4 years. Almost 60,000 (30%) will harbor within their blood cells damaging, fetally acquired mutations in the transcription factor gene GATA binding protein 1 (GATA1), which encodes a short GATA1 protein (GATA1s) and triggers the first step in the development of leukemia (2). GATA1 mutations are rare in disomic individuals and virtually never cause leukemia in the absence of T21. Why GATA1 mutations are so frequent in T21 babies and the mechanisms by which a supernumerary chromosome 21 (Hsa21) predisposes to, and cooperates with, genetic events in DS leukemogenesis are not known. On page 179 of this issue, Wagenblast et al. (3) identify Hsa21 microRNAs (miRNAs) that cooperate with GATA1s and map the cellular origin of the leukemia.
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spelling oxford-uuid:2ef85af6-f56c-49a5-b072-5cdcaf566bdb2022-03-26T12:52:15ZSowing the seeds of leukemia before birthJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501uuid:2ef85af6-f56c-49a5-b072-5cdcaf566bdbEnglishSymplectic ElementsAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science2021Roberts, IVyas, PEach year, ∼200,000 babies worldwide are born with Down syndrome (DS), owing to constitutional trisomy of chromosome 21 (T21) (1). Children with DS have a markedly increased risk of leukemia, particularly in their first 4 years. Almost 60,000 (30%) will harbor within their blood cells damaging, fetally acquired mutations in the transcription factor gene GATA binding protein 1 (GATA1), which encodes a short GATA1 protein (GATA1s) and triggers the first step in the development of leukemia (2). GATA1 mutations are rare in disomic individuals and virtually never cause leukemia in the absence of T21. Why GATA1 mutations are so frequent in T21 babies and the mechanisms by which a supernumerary chromosome 21 (Hsa21) predisposes to, and cooperates with, genetic events in DS leukemogenesis are not known. On page 179 of this issue, Wagenblast et al. (3) identify Hsa21 microRNAs (miRNAs) that cooperate with GATA1s and map the cellular origin of the leukemia.
spellingShingle Roberts, I
Vyas, P
Sowing the seeds of leukemia before birth
title Sowing the seeds of leukemia before birth
title_full Sowing the seeds of leukemia before birth
title_fullStr Sowing the seeds of leukemia before birth
title_full_unstemmed Sowing the seeds of leukemia before birth
title_short Sowing the seeds of leukemia before birth
title_sort sowing the seeds of leukemia before birth
work_keys_str_mv AT robertsi sowingtheseedsofleukemiabeforebirth
AT vyasp sowingtheseedsofleukemiabeforebirth