Charles G. Mullighan, MBBS (Hons), MSc, MD-Member, St. Jude Faculty-Deputy Director, Comprehensive Cancer Center-St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Charles Mullighan, MD, expresses gratitude for the invitation to speak at the meeting and discusses the genomic classification of leukemia, particularly focusing on B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) and T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). He covers three main areas: B-ALL genomic classification, its implications for diagnosis and risk assessment, and recent unpublished data on T-ALL classification.
Dr. Mullighan highlights the progress in understanding B-ALL’s genomic classification over the last decade. Through extensive studies involving RNA sequencing and thousands of patients, researchers have identified about 23 B-ALL subtypes with distinct gene expression patterns. These subtypes correlate with patient age, clinical features, minimal residual disease, and outcomes, sparking interest in integrating them into clinical practice.
Regarding T-ALL, Dr. Mullighan notes its unique genomic landscape with alterations frequently occurring beyond the coding genome. Genomic studies have led to the identification of various T-ALL subtypes with different outcomes. The presentation underscores the clinical significance of genomic classification for both B-ALL and T-ALL and its potential for improved diagnostic and risk stratification approaches.