It takes a village to grow leukemia

摘要

In this issue of Blood, Barz et al identified NT5C2 thiopurine resistance mutations in 16% of children with relapsed B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). Despite the fact that most of the mutations were subclonal, their presence was associated with an inferior outcome. Strikingly, NT5C2-mutated cells were sensitive to relapse therapy, suggesting a complex association between NT5C2 mutations and the poor prognosis of relapsed ALL.(1)