Leukemia Research Paper

Leukemia is cancer in blood-forming tissues, such as bone marrow, that causes the body to be less effective at fighting infection. There are many types of leukemia; these include, but are not limited to, acute myeloid leukemia, hairy cell leukemia, and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Leukemia and Lymphoma Society). This is an interesting field of study due to its somewhat rarity in relation to other forms of cancer.

One study performed regarding acute myeloid leukemia (AML) had the purpose of developing small molecules to target CKIα as well as the transcriptional kinases CDK7 and CDK9. CKIα removal activates p53 which is a tumor suppression protein. P53 is often deemed “the guardian of the genome” due to its major role in preventing mutation (Bioinformatics). By targeting CDK7 and CDK9, the CKIα-induced p53 activation increases and thus encourages anti-leukemic activity. The elimination of the cyclin-dependent kinase is crucial due to their role in ultimately altering the cell cycle and causing abnormal cell growth and thus tumors (Graf, 2011). The study was conducted by first developing small molecule inhibitors to be taken by mouth that hinder CKIα and CDK7/9 activity. The inhibitors effectively kill AML origins and cure the mice that the study was conducted on. The scientists are then able to conclude that p53 activation is the cause of the leukemia cell apoptosis, or cell death (Minzel, 2018).

The scientists present many results from their studies. One of their results suggests that the inhibitors A51 and A86 show the most promise in hindering CDK7 and CDK9 activity. This is shown by their strong binding affinity and their negative effect on phosphorylation of Ser5 on RNA Polymerase II. These inhibitors hinder transcription and decrease proliferation, thus suggesting that it will kill leukemia cells. Overall, the scientists present data that is to be expected. They prove that when the drugs are administered to affected mice, p53 activation causes leukemia cell apoptosis (Minzel, 2018).

The results of this study coincide with the article’s summary and the scientist’s goals. They were able to eradicate leukemia in both AML mouse and human xenograft models. I think that these drugs cure AML because when applied, it gave satisfactory results. I think that this drug would be effective on killing leukemia in humans because it specifically targets leukemia tissue cells and does not affect other areas such as the heart and lungs. They also conducted tests on human samples and it gave the same successful results, so I think that it could be expanded to humans with AML. This research heavily relates to what was taught this semester. It deals with how certain proteins function in cell cycle progression. It focuses on the topic of cyclin-dependent kinases and their role in regulating multiple cell processes and how it relates to leukemia proliferation.

 

References

Acute myeloid leukemia. Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Graf, F., Wuest, F., and Pietzsch, J. (2011). Cyclin-Dependent Kinases (Cdk) as targets for                       cancer therapy and imaging. In Advances in cancer therapy (InTech).

Minzel, W,. Venkatachalam, A., Fink, A., Pilarsky, E., Snir-Alkalay, I., Ben-Neriah, Y. Small                  molecules co-targeting ckiα and the transcriptional kinases cdk7/9 control aml in                           preclinical models. Cell Press (2018).

Primary information of p53 gene. Bioinformatics.