Year 1

Summary of Overall Progress
This grant focuses on generation of MPN stem cells from hESC or CB and correlates leukemic potential with MPN patient samples. In the first year of this grant, we have demonstrated that 1) hESC differentiate on AGM stroma to the CD34+ stage, which is associated with increased GATA-1, Flk2, GATA-2 and ADAR1 expression; 2) hESC CD34+ differentiation is enhanced in vitro and in vivo in the presence of a genetically engineered mouse stroma, which produces human stem cell factor, IL-3 and G-CSF; 3) hESC CD34+ cells can be transduced with our novel lentiviral BCR-ABL vector, which, unlike retroviral BCR-ABL, can transduce quiescent stem cells; 4) BCR-ABL expression by CP CML progenitors does not sustain engraftment but rather leukemic transformation is predicated, in part, on bcl-2 overexpression; 5) JAK2V617F expression in hES or CB stem cells is insufficient to induce leukemic transformation; 6) BCR-ABL transduced hESC CD34+ cells have significantly higher BCR-ABL transplantation potential than CP CML progenitors suggesting that they have higher survival capacity; 7) lentiviral -catenin transduction of BCR-ABL hESC CD34+ cells leads to serial transplantation indicative of LSC formation; 8) CML BC LSC persist in vivo despite potent BCR-ABL inhibition with dasatinib therapy and will likely require combined inhibitor therapy to eradicate. Currently, HEEBO arrays and phospho-flow studies are underway to detect bcl-2 family members and self-renewal protein expression in BCR-ABL and JAK2 V617F transduced hESC and CB CD34+ cells compared with MPN patient derived progenitors. This will aid in development of combined MPN stem cell inhibitor strategies in this grant.