Browsing by Subject "mature T-cell leukemias/lymphomas"

Mature T-cell leukemias/lymphomas (MaTCLs) represent a rare and clinically heterogenous group of diseases that vary from indolent stages to aggressive malignancies with very limited therapy options due to the resistance development against conventional chemotherapies. T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia (T-PLL) is the most common subtype of MaTCLs and was therefore selected as a model disease to study the genetic mechanisms leading to the resistance development with eight clinically relevant cancer drugs. In this Master’s thesis genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 knock-out screen with Brunello lentiviral library was used to study genetic aberrations that could induce resistance or sensitivity towards the selected cancer drugs. Two main pathways were enriched in multiple drug conditions including p53 regulating genes as well as epigenetic regulation, suggesting these pathways could be related to resistance development mechanisms. p53 pathway is dysregulated in most cancer types and therefore it can also be seen as a positive control of the screen. Epigenetic modulations play an important role regulating cell proliferation and genes related to this pathway are frequently altered in MaTCL patients. The screening results show enrichment of epigenetic regulation and suggest that it has a role in drug resistance development. This thesis work included results only from one genome-wide screening experiment and in the future is important to compare the findings with replicate screen results as well as with other cell lines to confirm the findings. In addition, validation of the most biologically interesting genes should be performed, most optimally in primary cells.