Fol. Biol. 2019, 65, 11-23
Genes and Mechanisms Responsible for Expansion of Acute Myeloid Leukaemia Blasts
Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is the leading form of fatal acute leukaemia in adults. AML is a heterogeneous disease with respect to responsible mutations and chromosomal abnormalities as well as to their clinicopathological image. In recent years, great progress has been made in techniques allowing detection of genetic changes in both de novo AML and in secondary AML induced by other haematological disorders or therapy, and in detection of residual disease after therapy. Accumulated knowledge allowed better understanding of the molecules and mechanisms involved not only in the formation and expansion of a primary leukaemia-founding clone, but also of a temporal order of changes leading to the fully malignant phenotype. The recent knowledge of bone marrow (BM) compartments and interrelations among various BM resident and recruited cell types helps in understanding the AML development. The progress in the techniques and knowledge will result in the development and use of molecularly targeted therapies tailored to individual patient needs.
Keywords
acute myeloid leukaemia, bone marrow, leukaemic stem cells, leukaemic blasts, recurrent gene mutations, mechanisms of malignant transformation.
Funding
This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic (Programme NPU I – LO1220).
References
Copyright
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.
