Clonal evolution of preleukemic hematopoietic stem cells in acute myeloid leukemia

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an aggressive blood cancer that results from an abnormal expansion of uncontrollably proliferating myeloid progenitors that have lost the capacity to differentiate. AML encompasses many genetically distinct subtypes that predominantly develop de novo. However, AML can also arise from premalignant myeloid conditions, such as myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), or develop as the result of exposure to genotoxic agents used to treat unrelated malignancies. Although numerous distinct cytogenetic and molecular abnormalities associated with AML were discovered prior to the turn of the millennium, recent advances in whole genome sequencing and global genomic approaches have resulted in an explosion of newly identified molecular abnormalities. However, even with these advances, our understanding of how these mutations contribute to the etiology, pathogenesis, and therapeutic responses of AML remains largely unknown. Recently the International Society for Experimental Hematology (ISEH) hosted a webinar entitled “Clonal Evolution of Pre-Leukemic Hematopoietic Stem Cells (HSCs) in AML” in which two AML mavens, Ross Levine, MD, and Ravindra Majeti, MD, PhD, discussed some of their recent, groundbreaking studies that have shed light on how many of these newly identified mutations contribute to leukemogenesis and therapy resistance in AML. Here, we provide a brief overview of this webinar and discuss the basic scientific and clinical implications of the data presented.