Prospective separation of normal and leukemic stem cells based on differential expression of TIM3, a human acute myeloid leukemia stem cell marker

Prospective separation of normal and leukemic stem cells based on differential expression of TIM3, a human acute myeloid leukemia stem cell marker PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Jan, M., Chao, M. P., Cha, A. C., Alizadeh, A. A., Gentles, A. J., Weissman, I. L., Majeti, R. 2011; 108 (12): 5009-5014

Abstract

Hematopoietic tissues in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients contain both leukemia stem cells (LSC) and residual normal hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). The ability to prospectively separate residual HSC from LSC would enable important scientific and clinical investigation including the possibility of purged autologous hematopoietic cell transplants. We report here the identification of TIM3 as an AML stem cell surface marker more highly expressed on multiple specimens of AML LSC than on normal bone marrow HSC. TIM3 expression was detected in all cytogenetic subgroups of AML, but was significantly higher in AML-associated with core binding factor translocations or mutations in CEBPA. By assessing engraftment in NOD/SCID/IL2R?-null mice, we determined that HSC function resides predominantly in the TIM3-negative fraction of normal bone marrow, whereas LSC function from multiple AML specimens resides predominantly in the TIM3-positive compartment. Significantly, differential TIM3 expression enabled the prospective separation of HSC from LSC in the majority of AML specimens with detectable residual HSC function.

View details for DOI 10.1073/pnas.1100551108

View details for Web of Science ID 000288712200061

View details for PubMedID 21383193

View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3064328