For the first time researchers have investigated intratumoral genetic heterogeneity between anatomically distinct bone marrow compartments of the same patient with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The researchers, led by Olli Kallioniemi, Director of SciLifeLab and faculty at Karolinska Institutet/SciLifeLab, used exome and amplicon sequencing to compare biopsies from three different bone marrow compartments of two patients. The results showed somatic mutations that were unique to individual bone marrow compartments. The observations, published in Leukemia & Lymphoma, could have clinical relevance in that subclonal composition of AML could impact diagnosis and treatment for the disease.

Read the full scientific paper in Leukemia & Lymphoma