Research Achievements by Academician Chen Saijuan s Team Published on Nature Genetics

Research Achievements by Academician Chen Saijuan s Team Published on Nature Genetics

New Progresses in Research on Leukemia Genome

Another important discovery has been made in leukemia research by Shanghai Institute of Hematology/State Key Laboratory of Medical Genomics. The research team is chiefly led by Chen Saijuan, Director of Shanghai Institute of Hematology. By utilizing next-generation sequencing, the research group, for the first time in the world, interpreted the genetic information of genome coding regions by exome sequencing in acute monocytic leukemia, the M5 subtype of acute myeloid leukemia (AML-M5). They discovered mutations in DNMT3A (encoding DNA methyltransferase 3A) in 23 of 112 (20.5%) cases. Their work suggests a great contribution of aberrant DNA methyltransferase activity to the pathogenesis of acute monocytic leukemia and provides a useful new biomarker for relevant cases. On March 13, 2011, the research result was reported as an article by Nature Genetics, indicating that Chinese scientists rank among the world's advanced research on cancer genomics.

The research was supported by National High-tech R&D Program (863 Program), National Basic Research Program (973 Program), the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission.

For more details about the report by Nature Genetics, please click here

Translated by Wu Xiujuan | Reviewed by Tian Cong