New research provides clues to the pathogenesis of mixed lineage leukemia (MLL), a rare form of leukemia predominantly occurs in young children. The research, led by Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, shows that stabilizing wild-type MLL protein inhibits MLL leukemia cell proliferation. MLL has both myeloid and lymphoid characteristics. It takes up only 3% to 5% of all acute leukemia cases. Currently the optimal therapeutic approach to MLL has not been well defined. Children with MLL tend to have a particularly poor prognosis. In MLL, a piece of chromosome 11 has been translocated. Specifically, the disease is caused by rearrangements to the MLL gene on chromosome 11q23. This chromosomal translocation can lead to the production of MLL fusion proteins, which is a hallmark of the disease. Although enormous efforts have been made to elucidate how MLL translocations cause the disease, the exact molecular basis of MLL remains unclear. In humans, each cell normally contains 23 pairs of chromosomes, for a total of 46. It means that most human cells contain two copies of chromosome 11. Scientists who study MLL generally look at the errant version of chromosome 11. But in the new study, the rearchers studied the wild-type version of chromosome 11. The researchers found that cells with the pediatric leukemia had a very low level of a protein coded by the wild-type MLL gene. Based on this, they assumed that increasing the levels of the wild-type MLL protein might be a way to prevent the mutated MLL protein from causing the disease. In further experiments, the researchers found a new compound that could stabilize the wild-type MLL protein, and then tested it in mice transplanted with MLL leukemia cells. Results showed that the compound restored the wild-type MLL protein to normal levels, and inhibited leukemia cell proliferation. The study, reported in the journal Cell, could open a door for the development of new treatments for MLL as well as other translocation-related cancers. Cusabio offers proteins such as Biotin conjugated antibody.