Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a malignant disorder of the bone marrow displaying heterogeneous clinical and biological features with different treatment outcomes between genetic subtypes and age groups. The landscape of genetic aberrations in ALL is very heterogeneous with respect to type of aberration. Since many of these recurrent aberrations contribute important prognostic information, the genetic characterization of ALL is mandatory in most treatment protocols. Cytogenetic studies and FISH permit the detection of aneuploidy and large structural chromosomal alterations, but both techniques have limitations and need to be complemented with genomic methods to completely characterize the leukemic blasts. Despite this extensive and labor-intensive characterization, many patients with ALL lack recognized stratifying aberrations and only rare patients with T-ALL have predictive or prognostic lesions. Today, the implementation of high throughput technologies enables the exploration of the genetic characteristics of ALL more efficiently, with the potential to identify new genetic subtypes with clinical relevance.
Genome mapping projects, alongside the rapid growth of high-throughput technologies, have increased our knowledge of ALL, giving us the opportunity to identify genomic and transcriptomic profiles or new biomarkers associated with treatment response, disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS) in ALL. However, many questions still are unanswered, mainly regarding ALL in adults and T-ALL.
The objective of this Research Topic is to provide an updated overview of the genomic and transcriptomics knowledge of ALL. This includes reviewing new applications of the massive technologies to decode the genome of childhood and adulthood ALL, and the identification and validation of potential new therapeutic targets and prognostic markers to guide therapeutic decisions.
We welcome Original Research and Review articles on the following:
1) Genomic and gene expression differences between children and adults with ALL
2) Studies exploring the genomic features, risk alleles, and genome-environment interactions of ALL
3) Genomic studies evaluating the association between ancestry background and ALL susceptibility and prevalence
4) Validation of new biomarkers and fusion genes
5) Identification of new molecular subtypes by using RNA microarrays assays, RNASeq, or single cell RNA-Seq in ALL
6) Studies regarding non-coding RNA
7) Genomic and transcriptomic profiles in refractory and relapsed ALL
8) Applications of the new genomic and transcriptomic technologies to unanswered questions in ALL
Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by robust and relevant validation (clinical cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section and will not be accepted as part of this Research Topic.
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a malignant disorder of the bone marrow displaying heterogeneous clinical and biological features with different treatment outcomes between genetic subtypes and age groups. The landscape of genetic aberrations in ALL is very heterogeneous with respect to type of aberration. Since many of these recurrent aberrations contribute important prognostic information, the genetic characterization of ALL is mandatory in most treatment protocols. Cytogenetic studies and FISH permit the detection of aneuploidy and large structural chromosomal alterations, but both techniques have limitations and need to be complemented with genomic methods to completely characterize the leukemic blasts. Despite this extensive and labor-intensive characterization, many patients with ALL lack recognized stratifying aberrations and only rare patients with T-ALL have predictive or prognostic lesions. Today, the implementation of high throughput technologies enables the exploration of the genetic characteristics of ALL more efficiently, with the potential to identify new genetic subtypes with clinical relevance.
Genome mapping projects, alongside the rapid growth of high-throughput technologies, have increased our knowledge of ALL, giving us the opportunity to identify genomic and transcriptomic profiles or new biomarkers associated with treatment response, disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS) in ALL. However, many questions still are unanswered, mainly regarding ALL in adults and T-ALL.
The objective of this Research Topic is to provide an updated overview of the genomic and transcriptomics knowledge of ALL. This includes reviewing new applications of the massive technologies to decode the genome of childhood and adulthood ALL, and the identification and validation of potential new therapeutic targets and prognostic markers to guide therapeutic decisions.
We welcome Original Research and Review articles on the following:
1) Genomic and gene expression differences between children and adults with ALL
2) Studies exploring the genomic features, risk alleles, and genome-environment interactions of ALL
3) Genomic studies evaluating the association between ancestry background and ALL susceptibility and prevalence
4) Validation of new biomarkers and fusion genes
5) Identification of new molecular subtypes by using RNA microarrays assays, RNASeq, or single cell RNA-Seq in ALL
6) Studies regarding non-coding RNA
7) Genomic and transcriptomic profiles in refractory and relapsed ALL
8) Applications of the new genomic and transcriptomic technologies to unanswered questions in ALL
Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by robust and relevant validation (clinical cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section and will not be accepted as part of this Research Topic.