Fetal liver Mll-AF4+ hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells respond directly to poly(I:C), but not to a single maternal immune activation

T(4;11) MLL-AF4 acute lymphoblastic leukemia is an aggressive subtype of infant and pediatric leukemia that originates in utero, with monozygotic twin studies having shown a 100% penetrance [1]. We are starting to gain more insights into how the disease develops through the use of pre-leukemia and leukemia mouse models [2-8]. Using a pre-leukemia mouse model, in which expression of Mll-AF4 initiates in all definitive hematopoietic cells formed during embryonic development (Mll-AF4 invertor mouse crossed with VEC-Cre), we have previously identified the fetal liver as the starting point of MLL-AF4-driven leukemogenesis [4,7].
Source: Experimental Hematology - Category: Hematology Authors: Source Type: research