Shanisha Gordon-Mitchell

Abstract Erythropoiesis is a tightly regulated process involving rapid cell proliferation with orderly differentiation to ensure production of millions of RBCs. TGF-β1 is a key regulator of erythropoiesis, however, the mechanisms via which it regulates erythropoiesis are not well elucidated. Using myelodysplastic syndromes patient samples, we show that elevated TGF-β1 and SMAD2 signaling correlates with the degree of anemia.

Abstract Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an aggressive myeloid malignancy with a poor prognosis. Venetoclax (Ven), a BCL2 inhibitor, has shown promising results but often leads to relapse due to mitochondrial dysregulation, particularly due to upregulation of the anti-apoptotic protein MCL1. Overexpression of the transcription factor STAT3 has been linked to poor survival in AML patients.

Editor’s summary Dysregulated splicing is a common feature among cancer and creates abnormal protein products that represent promising targets for cancer therapy. Here, Venkatasubramanian et al. developed OncoSplice, an unsupervised computational workflow to define molecular subtypes in cohorts of patients with AML. Inhibition of PRMT5, a nominated regulator of one of their subtypes, was able to block leukemia progression in xenograft AML models.