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The Translational Genomics in Leukaemia team is focused on identifying the causes of leukaemia, with the goal of developing new targeted treatments to improve quality of care and long-term survival for all children with leukaemia.

This JAK3A572V knockin model is a relevant new tool for testing the efficacy of JAK inhibitors in JAK3-related hematopoietic malignancies

Sébastien Laurence Rishi S. Malinge Cheung Kotecha PhD BPharm (Hons) MBA PhD MB ChB (Hons) MRCPCH FRACP PhD Laboratory Head, Translational Genomics

Sébastien Rishi S. Laurence Timo Malinge Kotecha Cheung Lassmann PhD MB ChB (Hons) MRCPCH FRACP PhD BPharm (Hons) MBA PhD BSc (Hons) MSc PhD

Sébastien Malinge PhD Laboratory Head, Translational Genomics in Leukaemia, Senior Research Fellow (University of Western Australia), Adjunct Senior

It is now well accepted that germline or de novo genetic alterations predispose to cancer development, especially during childhood. Among them, constitutive trisomy 21, also known as Down syndrome (DS), has been shown to predispose to acute leukemia affecting both the myeloid (ML-DS) and lymphoid (DS-ALL) lineages. ML-DS is associated with a good prognosis compared to children without DS, due in part to a higher sensitivity to conventional chemotherapy.

Despite advances in immunotherapy, metastatic melanoma remains a considerable therapeutic challenge due to the complexity of the tumor microenvironment. Intratumoral type I interferon (IFN-I) has long been associated with improved clinical outcomes. However, several IFN-I subtypes can also paradoxically promote tumor growth in some contexts. 

Infants with KMT2A-rearranged B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) have high rates of relapse and poor survival compared with children. Few new therapies have been identified over the past twenty years. The aim of this study was to identify existing anti-cancer agents that have the potential to be repurposed for the treatment of infant ALL.

Copy number alterations (CNAs), resulting from the gain or loss of genetic material from as little as 50 base pairs or as big as entire chromosome(s), have been associated with many congenital diseases, de novo syndromes and cancer. It is established that CNAs disturb the dosage of genomic regions including enhancers/promoters, long non-coding RNA and gene(s) among others, ultimately leading to an altered balance of key cellular functions.

Transcriptional cofactors of the ETO family are recurrent fusion partners in acute leukemia. We characterized the ETO2 regulome by integrating transcriptomic and chromatin binding analyses in human erythroleukemia xenografts and controlled ETO2 depletion models. We demonstrate that beyond its well-established repressive activity, ETO2 directly activates transcription of MYB, among other genes.