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

This laboratory study is looking into genes in samples from younger patients with relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Studying samples of tissue from patients with cancer in the laboratory may help doctors learn more about changes that occur in DNA and identify biomarkers related to cancer. It may also help doctors find better ways to treat cancer.

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).