Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, led by Emery Bresnick, Professor, Cell and Regenerative Biology, have revealed the function of a small chromosome segment directly responsible for a subset of myeloid leukemias. Knowing the origin could give researchers and clinicians a way to specifically treat the cause of the disease, rather than using general therapies that target symptoms instead of the source.
The study, published in Science Advances, distinguishes the normal function of a non-coding DNA element from its ability to promote leukemia when it is relocated away from its normal site on the chromosome due to a mutation.