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Hypermethylation of Death-Associated Protein Kinase 1 differentiates natural killer cell lines from cell lines derived from T-acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Leukemia volume 23, pages 1174–1176 (2009)Cite this article

T cells and natural killer (NK)-cells are derived from pluripotent stem cells and can be distinguished by the expression of various marker proteins. The most important markers are the rearranged T-cell receptor and specific NK-cell receptors. In addition, there is a distinct entity of cells expressing both markers; these cells are called NK/T cells. The immunoprofiles of seven bona fide malignant NK cell lines and five NK/T cell lines have been described earlier in detail.1 Expression profiling showed that NK and NK/T cell lines have identical profiles of a set of transcription factors, distinct from those of T-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) or B-cell precursor leukemia-derived cell lines.2

Here, we applied the methylation-specific multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MS-MLPA) assay to find out whether the methylation status of a defined set of tumor suppressor genes (TSG) allows for the discrimination of T-ALL from NK-cell-derived cell lines.3 Promoter hypermethylation of tumor suppressor genes is often seen in malignant diseases and, according to the widely held view, contributes to the rise of malignant cell clones by keeping the tumor suppressors at a low level.4 Specific profiles of hypermethylated CpG islands have been described, which are unique for different neoplasias.5, 6, 7 More recently, gene methylation patterns have also been used to identify lymphomatous entities.8, 9

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  1. Department of Human and Animal Cell Cultures, DSMZ – German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Braunschweig, Germany

    S Röhrs, J Romani, M Zaborski, H G Drexler & H Quentmeier

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Röhrs, S., Romani, J., Zaborski, M. et al. Hypermethylation of Death-Associated Protein Kinase 1 differentiates natural killer cell lines from cell lines derived from T-acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Leukemia 23, 1174–1176 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/leu.2009.5

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