MLL Rearrangements in Acute Myeloid Leukemia: A Pilot Project to Expand and Study MLL-ENL in NOD SCID Gamma Mice

OBJECTIVES:

• To successfully transplant human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells into immunocompromised mice for the purpose of expansion of the cells.
• To harvest the cells and use chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) methods to identify the locations of the protein complexes on the genome.
• To study the interactions of the Super Elongation Complex (SEC) and Dot1 Complex (DotCom) complexes in human leukemia samples.
• To compare the genomic targets of the complexes formed by MLL-ENL chimeras to non-MLL-rearranged leukemia samples to normal controls.

OUTLINE: Cryopreserved cells are implanted into NOD SCID gamma mice, expanded, harvested, and studied by chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) methods (using antibodies to ENL, Af9, and AF10). Results are then analyzed by PCR, DNA sequencing, and/or microarray analysis.