Developmental lymphopoiesis and leukemia

Our Research

Acute leukemia is one of the most common cancers in children where cancer of the lymphoid lineage (acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)) dominates. The ALL seen in children differs from the disease in adults with higher incidence, better prognosis but also different mutational spectrum. These facts suggest differences in the underlying biology and initiation of the disease between adults and children. Many of the initiation mutations in childhood leukemia have been shown to occur already during fetal life. The targeted cells form a pre-leukemic clone, pre-disposed to develop leukemia when encountering additional mutations. Differences in fetal and adult lineage hierarchies and target cells could explain part of the differences seen in the disease in children and adults. How the leukemia process initiates is poorly understood and childhood leukemia offers a unique possibility to study this as many of the initiation mutations are known. The main focus of my laboratory is to understand how the leukemia starts: the origin of the pre-leukemic clone and the molecular pathways that regulate the initiation of leukemia.

Aims

• To understand the orgin of the pre-leukemic clone
• To explore the key molecular pathways in the initiation of leukemia

Impact

If we could understand the initation of leukemia and how the pre-leukemic clone is formed we could design better treatments with  less toxicity and better efficacy, and in the future improve prognosis for these children.

List of Team Böiers' publications

Team

(name linked to profile in Lund University research portal)

Charlotta Böiers

Principal Investigator, Charlotta [dot] Boiers [at] med [dot] lu [dot] se (Charlotta[dot]Boiers[at]med[dot]lu[dot]se)

Roshanak Ghazanfari

Research Engineer, Roshanak [dot] Ghazanfari [at] med [dot] lu [dot] se (Roshanak[dot]Ghazanfari[at]med[dot]lu[dot]se)

Rasmus Olofzon

Bioinformatician, Rasmus [dot] Olofzon [at] med [dot] lu [dot] se (Rasmus[dot]Olofzon[at]med[dot]lu[dot]se)

Keiki Nagaharu

Postdoc, keiki [dot] nagaharu [at] med [dot] lu [dot] se (keiki[dot]nagaharu[at]med[dot]lu[dot]se)

Ariana Calderón

PhD student, Ariana_Seira [dot] Calderon_Moreno [at] med [dot] lu [dot] se (Ariana_Seira.Calderon_Moreno@med.lu.se)

Sara Palo

PhD student, Sara [dot] Palo [at] med [dot] lu [dot] se