Studying Genes in Samples From Younger Patients With Relapsed Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

OBJECTIVES:

I. To identify global changes in the epigenome and various underlying histone modifications
that characterize relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

II. To identify specific transcription factor-binding sites associated with histone
alterations.

III. To correlate gene expression changes of differentially regulated genes at relapse with
underlying chromatin modifications.

OUTLINE:

Archived bone marrow samples, collected at the time of diagnosis and relapse, are analyzed
for gene expression and histone modifications by microarray, chromatin immunoprecipitation
(ChIP) sequencing, and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).

Inclusion Criteria:

- Diagnosis of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia

- Paired diagnosis-relapse primary patient samples obtained from the Children's
Oncology Group (COG) cell bank