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Acute lymphoblastic leukemia

High PIM1 expression is a biomarker of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia with JAK/STAT activation or t(6;7)(p21;q34)/TRB@-PIM1 rearrangement

Leukemia volume 32, pages 1807–1810 (2018)Cite this article

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PIM1, a member of the PIM family of short-lived serine/threonine kinases, is involved in the control of cell growth, differentiation, and apoptosis and is highly conserved in mammals. It is expressed in embryonic stem cells, hematopoietic, neuronal, smooth muscle, heart, endothelial and epithelial cells through tight regulation at transcriptional and translational levels [1].

Originally discovered as the site of murine T-cell lymphomas retroviral insertion, transgenic mice provided the first evidence of PIM1 oncogenic potential since they developed T-cell lymphomas after a short latency time [2]. In primary acute myeloid leukemia and B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, PIM1 activation has been related to MLL translocations, BCR-ABL1 fusion, and JAK2 and FLT3 mutations [3]. Owing to its widespread upregulation, it has been regarded as a suitable target to treat cancer and a number of small molecule inhibitors are currently available for clinical trials [4, 5]. Interestingly, in vitro experiments with human leukemia cell lines have shown that T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) are among the most sensitive to inhibitors, suggesting that PIM1 plays a pivotal role in T-ALL leukemogenesis [6].

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Funding

This work was supported by: AIRC (IG-15525), Sergio Luciani Association, Fabriano, and Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio Perugia (2016.0113.021) to CM; AIRC Special Program Molecular Clinical Oncology-Extension program, 5 × 1000, (10007), to RF; Associazione Daniele Chianelli, Perugia, to RLS; Finanziamento per l’avvio alla ricerca 2015 (Sapienza University) to MM.

Author contributions

Conception and design: RLS; development of methodology: RLS, MM, VG, CM; molecular and cytogenetic studies: VP, TP, MZL, VG, MM; data analysis and interpretation: RLS, MM, VG, TP, GR, CM; writing and review of the manuscript: RLS, CM, MM, VG, SC, AV, RF.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation Unit, CREO, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy

    Roberta La Starza, Valentina Pierini, Caterina Matteucci, Tiziana Pierini & Cristina Mecucci

  2. Department of Cellular Biotechnologies and Hematology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy

    Monica Messina, Valentina Gianfelici, Maria Zaira Limongi, Antonella Vitale, Sabina Chiaretti & Robin Foà

  3. Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation Unit, University of Parma, Parma, Italy

    Giovanni Roti

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  1. Roberta La Starza
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cristina Mecucci.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

These authors contributed equally: RL Starza and M Messina.

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La Starza, R., Messina, M., Gianfelici, V. et al. High PIM1 expression is a biomarker of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia with JAK/STAT activation or t(6;7)(p21;q34)/TRB@-PIM1 rearrangement. Leukemia 32, 1807–1810 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-018-0031-2

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