Pre-B Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Cell Line EU-4

Application

Cancer cell line derived from a pediatric patient with early B-cell precursor (Pre-B) acute lymphoblastic leukemia with myeloid phenotype.

Key Benefits

Does not express p53 and expresses wild-type MDM2.
Expresses wild-type Bax, over-expresses Bcl-xl, and does not express Bcl-2.
Can be used as a tool for gene transfection assays in leukemia studies.

Technical Summary

p53 is a tumor suppressor protein that in humans is encoded by the TP53 gene. p53 regulates the cell cycle and thereby functions as a tumor suppressor that is involved in preventing cancer. Mutation or inactivation of the p53 gene has been implicated in a wide range of human malignancies, however most cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia express normal p53. The MDM2 oncoprotein is the human homolog of the mouse double minute 2 (MDM2) gene product and acts as an important negative regulator of the p53 tumor suppressor by binding to the N-terminal trans-activation domain of p53 and inhibiting transcriptional activation of the p53 gene.

Emory researchers have established a cell line from a pediatric patient with early B cell precursor (Pre-B) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) with myeloid phenotype. This cell line has been characterized to be p53 null and to express wild-type levels of MDM2. The lack of p53 expression in the EU-4 cell line renders this research tool useful for gene transfection assays in studies of leukemia.