This laboratory study is looking into biomarkers in samples from younger patients with acute myeloid leukemia. Studying samples of bone marrow from patients with cancer in the laboratory may help doctors learn more about changes that occur in DNA and identify biomarkers related to cancer

Study Subtype: Observational Observational Study Model: Case-control Time Perspective: Retrospective Biospecimen Retention: Samples With DNA Biospecimen Description: Cryopreserved bone marrow samples Study Population Description: Patient samples with the AML1-ETO translocation and cytologically normal AML samples for controls Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

OBJECTIVES:

I. To address whether the mutation-specific cell-surface markers observed in murine system will allow the prospective isolation of leukemia stem cells (LSC) from human bone marrow samples that have the same cytogenetic abnormalities.

II. To compare the incidence of leukemia in NSG mice that have received CD34+CD38 marker+ cells to NSG mice that receive what are hypothesized to be normal cells (CD34+CD38 marker-subset) from the same patient.

OUTLINE:

Samples and controls are sorted and re-sorted for CD34, CD38, and CD55 subsets by single-cell polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis, flow cytometry, and reverse-transcriptase PCR. Sorted cell subsets are then transplanted into NSG mice. Beginning 6 weeks after transplantation, peripheral blood samples are collected and analyzed for human lymphoid- and myeloid-lineage cells by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS).

Inclusion Criteria:

• Frozen bone marrow aspirates obtained from childhood acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients possessing defined cytogenetic mutations; AML1-ETO or inv(16)
• Samples of cytogenetically normal AML cases obtained from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) as controls

childhood acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients