The aim of this study is to characterize the transcriptomic/proteomic profile of chronic myeloid leukemia stem cells (CML; LSC) at different stages of disease at the single-cell level, with a subfocus on genes and proteins related to redox regulation and NK cell receptor ligands. The research questions are:
• How do normal hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) and BCR-ABL1+ CML LSC differ in gene and protein expression?
• Is the LSC phenotype consistent across CML diagnosis samples?
• Can we identify LSC subpopulations that are resistant to tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy, and can they be identified prior to treatment?
• How does the LSC phenotype differ in chronic, accelerated phase vs blast crisis?
• Is the LSC phenotype affected by hydroxyurea treatment?
• Is the LSC phenotype at CML diagnosis similar in blood and bone marrow?