Xi Jiang, PhD

The Function and Regulatory Mechanism of miR-495 in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)

MLL-rearranged leukemia, accounting for approximately 10% of human acute leukemias, is often associated with poor prognosis.MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small RNAs mediating gene silencing. I found that miR-495 was significantly down-regulated in most AML cases with MLL rearrangements. It dramatically inhibited human leukemic cell growth and delayed MLL-fusion-mediated leukemogenesis. The major goal of this project is (i) to identify its critical target genes and (ii) to reveal relevant molecular mechanism(s) underlying its repression in MLL-rearranged AML.