New treatments for high-risk paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

Although long-term survival rates for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) are now approaching 90%, children with genetically specified subgroups remain at enhanced risk of treatment failure and reduced rates of survival. Among these subtypes, Philadelphia (Ph)-like ALL is correlated with...

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Hovedforfatter: Ayan, Saha
Format: Article
Sprog:engelsk
Udgivet: UNSW SYDNEY 2025
Online adgang:https://repository.auw.edu.bd/handle/123456789/848
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author Ayan, Saha
author_facet Ayan, Saha
author_sort Ayan, Saha
collection institutional Repository
description Although long-term survival rates for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) are now approaching 90%, children with genetically specified subgroups remain at enhanced risk of treatment failure and reduced rates of survival. Among these subtypes, Philadelphia (Ph)-like ALL is correlated with the clinical features of higher risk, inadequate response to chemotherapy, high levels of minimal residual disease (MRD), early relapse and poor survival. The cytokine receptor like factor 2 (CRLF2) rearrangement and IKAROS family zinc finger 1 (IKZF1) deletion drive oncogenesis in a high proportion of paediatric Ph-like ALL patients; both CRLF2 and IKZF1 alterations drive stem cell renewal, cause abnormal bone marrow (BM) adhesion, and result in decreased chemosensitivity. The BM is the most frequent site of relapse in ALL. Therefore, this study focuses on how the BM microenvironment becomes supportive for the survival of Ph-like ALL cells following chemotherapy. Preclinical in vivo ALL patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models have shown in the present research that, when compared to other organs, induction chemotherapy is less effective in BM regions. Moreover, relapse-initiating MRD cells were higher in the BM regions of the Ph-like ALL PDX-bearing mice than was the case for the low-risk BCP-ALL PDXs, further suggesting substantial chemoresistance mechanisms of Ph-like ALL MRD cells in the BM. Accordingly, this study adopted a single-cell (sc)-RNA sequencing approach to identify how Ph-like ALL cells develop chemoresistance in the BM. Induction chemotherapy resulted in the suppression of TP53 and subsequent cell cycle alterations of Ph-like ALL cells, although this was not seen in low-risk BCP-ALL. In addition, both altered IKZF1 and CRLF2 rearrangement in Ph-like ALL confers glucocorticoid (GC) resistance. GCs form a critical component of chemotherapy regimens for paediatric ALL, with initial resistance to GC therapy being predictive of poor outcome. Interestingly, Ph-like ALL cell lines cocultured with BM stromal cells (BMSCs) exhibited increased resistance against GCs. However, IGF1R inhibitors, in combination with GCs, demonstrated remarkable in vitro efficacy when tested and compared to a Ph-like ALL cell line cocultured with BMSC. Overall, the data presented in this thesis provide novel insights into BM-induced chemoresistance in MRD cells, and could be used to facilitate the development of future therapeutic approaches in the treatment of Ph-like ALL.
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spelling 123456789-8482026-02-18T06:15:11Z New treatments for high-risk paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia Ayan, Saha Although long-term survival rates for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) are now approaching 90%, children with genetically specified subgroups remain at enhanced risk of treatment failure and reduced rates of survival. Among these subtypes, Philadelphia (Ph)-like ALL is correlated with the clinical features of higher risk, inadequate response to chemotherapy, high levels of minimal residual disease (MRD), early relapse and poor survival. The cytokine receptor like factor 2 (CRLF2) rearrangement and IKAROS family zinc finger 1 (IKZF1) deletion drive oncogenesis in a high proportion of paediatric Ph-like ALL patients; both CRLF2 and IKZF1 alterations drive stem cell renewal, cause abnormal bone marrow (BM) adhesion, and result in decreased chemosensitivity. The BM is the most frequent site of relapse in ALL. Therefore, this study focuses on how the BM microenvironment becomes supportive for the survival of Ph-like ALL cells following chemotherapy. Preclinical in vivo ALL patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models have shown in the present research that, when compared to other organs, induction chemotherapy is less effective in BM regions. Moreover, relapse-initiating MRD cells were higher in the BM regions of the Ph-like ALL PDX-bearing mice than was the case for the low-risk BCP-ALL PDXs, further suggesting substantial chemoresistance mechanisms of Ph-like ALL MRD cells in the BM. Accordingly, this study adopted a single-cell (sc)-RNA sequencing approach to identify how Ph-like ALL cells develop chemoresistance in the BM. Induction chemotherapy resulted in the suppression of TP53 and subsequent cell cycle alterations of Ph-like ALL cells, although this was not seen in low-risk BCP-ALL. In addition, both altered IKZF1 and CRLF2 rearrangement in Ph-like ALL confers glucocorticoid (GC) resistance. GCs form a critical component of chemotherapy regimens for paediatric ALL, with initial resistance to GC therapy being predictive of poor outcome. Interestingly, Ph-like ALL cell lines cocultured with BM stromal cells (BMSCs) exhibited increased resistance against GCs. However, IGF1R inhibitors, in combination with GCs, demonstrated remarkable in vitro efficacy when tested and compared to a Ph-like ALL cell line cocultured with BMSC. Overall, the data presented in this thesis provide novel insights into BM-induced chemoresistance in MRD cells, and could be used to facilitate the development of future therapeutic approaches in the treatment of Ph-like ALL. 2025-07-30T03:55:41Z 2025-07-30T03:55:41Z 2023 Article https://repository.auw.edu.bd/handle/123456789/848 en application/pdf UNSW SYDNEY
spellingShingle Ayan, Saha
New treatments for high-risk paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
title New treatments for high-risk paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
title_full New treatments for high-risk paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
title_fullStr New treatments for high-risk paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
title_full_unstemmed New treatments for high-risk paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
title_short New treatments for high-risk paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
title_sort new treatments for high risk paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
url https://repository.auw.edu.bd/handle/123456789/848
work_keys_str_mv AT ayansaha newtreatmentsforhighriskpaediatricacutelymphoblasticleukaemia