Transcriptomics and proteomics in studies of induced differentiation of leukemia cells

Abstract

Induced differentiation of leukemia cells is in the focus of basic and applied biomedical studies for more than 30 years. During this period specific regulatory molecules involved in the maturation process have been identified by biochemical and molecular biological methods. Recent developments of high-throughput transcriptomic and proteomic techniques made it possible to analyze large sets of mRNA and proteins; this resulted in identification of functionally important signal transduction pathways and networks of molecular interactions, and thus extent existing knowledge on the molecular mechanisms of induced differentiation. Despite significant achievements in studies of induced differentiation, many problems associated with the molecular mechanism of cell maturation, a phenomenon of therapeutic resistance of leukemic cells still need better understanding and thus require further detailed study. Transcriptomics and proteomics methods provide a suitable methodological platform for the implementation of such studies. This review highlights the use of transcriptomic and proteomic methods in studies aimed at various aspects of the induced differentiation. Special attention is paid to the employment of the systems approach for investigation of various aspects of cell maturation. The use of the systems approach in studies of induced differentiation is an important step for transition from the formal data accumulation on expression of mRNA and proteins towards creating models of biological processes in silico.