A non-canonical lymphoblast in refractory childhood T-cell leukaemia

Refractory cancers may arise either through the acquisition of resistance mechanisms by cancer cells or represent distinct diseases. The origin of childhood T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL) that does not respond to initial treatment, i.e. refractory disease, is unknown. Refractory T-ALL carries a poor prognosis and cannot be predicted at diagnosis. Here, we performed single cell mRNA sequencing of T-ALL from children who did or did not respond to initial treatment. We identified a transcriptionally distinctive blast population, exhibiting features of innate-like lymphocytes, as the major source of refractory disease.

• Type: RNASeq
• Archiver: European Genome-Phenome Archive (EGA)