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Brendan Stuart,
B. S. Biology, When Abelson virus induces B cell leukemia, the v-Abl oncogene it encodes affects B cell development by altering the cell's differentiation program. Because similar effects are important in human leukemias, I am using v-Abl as a model to understand the way differentiation is affected during transformation. In particular, I was working to understand the way v-Abl alters the growth of early B lineage cells in adult mouse bone marrow and murine fetal liver. B cell development in these two tissues is influenced by different signaling processes. In the adult, B cell development is largely dependent on IL-7, while Flt3 and TSLP influence this process during fetal life. Understanding how v-Abl subverts pathways in these different precursors will advance our knowledge of the way in which leukemias develop, |
