David H. Spencer, MD, PhD

Associate Professor

Department of Medicine, Division of Oncology

WashU Medicine

Talk Title: Epimutation hotspots in acute myeloid leukemia

Abstract:  DNA methylation is altered in nearly all cancers, but the origin and functional consequences of these changes are not well understood. I will present recent studies from our lab showing that regions with intermediate DNA methylation in normal hematopoietic cells are “hotspots” for methylation changes in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We found that intermediate methylation at these hotspots is caused by random allele-specific methylation in normal hematopoietic stem cells, and that loss of this “somatic imprinting” pattern results in stable, clonal epimutations that can precede AML development.

Host: Dr. Tim Schedl