Prof. Pablo Menedez, Josep Carreras Leukemia Research Institute (Barcelona, Spain)

Etiology, pathogenesis and cell-of-origin of MLLr paediatric B-ALL

“Pediatric acute leukemia is clinically and biologically differentiated from adult acute leukemia. The latter is a disease associated with aging while in childhood leukemia is associated with growth and development. In fact, pediatric leukemia is considered and studied as a developmental disease. In this session, I will present the advances that our laboratory has made in recent years in the biology and clinical picture of pediatric B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), especially that associated with rearrangements in the KTM2A (MLL) gene. I will discuss aspects of the cell of origin and the leukemia-initiating cell as well as other cellular, molecular and genetic aspects that underlie the etiology and pathogenesis of these pediatric/childhood leukemias. Finally, I will share recently discovered therapeutic aspects to circumvent glucocorticoid resistance.”