Pediatrics & Therapeutics
Open Access

Tracking down the origin of cancerous stem cell programs in pediatric leukemia

International Conference and Exhibition on Pediatric Oncology and Clinical Pediatrics

August 11-13, 2016 Toronto, Canada

Dengli Hong

Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Pediat Therapeut

Abstract :

There are a few key issues in the pathogenesis of pediatric leukemia: How is the stem cell program reprogrammed when normal hematopoietic stem or progenitor cells (HSCs or HPCs) are converted into leukemic stem cells (LSCs)? How to distinguish between cancers that are initiated in utero and those originating after birth? What medical implications are to distinguish these different origins of the disease? And where are LSCs resident after they are formed, not being killed by chemotherapy. We have addressed these issues in human acute leukemia (AL). We for the first time identified a pre-leukemic stem cell (pre-LSC) in the context of a pair of twins, when one got AL the other was healthy (Science 319: 336). Subsequently we demonstrated that stem cell programs in leukemic lymphoblasts are retained from HSCs rather than conferred on HPCs (Oncogene, 34:2083). We next identified a diagnostic biomarker to determine prenatal origin of childhood leukemias, which can distinguish childhood LSCs from normal HSCs in the postnatal bone marrow (BM) and may thus provide a tractable target for therapy in childhood leukemias, killing LSCs and sparing normal HSCs (under peer-review). Recently we reported a therapy-induced niche within the leukemic bone marrow which protects LSCs from chemotherapy (Cancer Cell 25:778). In the conference talk I may talk these stories focusing on the translational perspectives of these discoveries in pediatric cancers.

Biography :

Email: dlhong@sjtu.edu.cn