spotlight on the American society of hematology (ash) annual meeting: Transcriptomic and Epigenomic Landscape of HCL at Single-Cell Resolution

In December, the Hairy Cell Leukemia Foundation (HCLF) proudly participated in the American Society of Hematology (ASH)'s annual meeting, the foremost global gathering for hematology. Hundreds of HCLF-affiliated researchers presented abstracts on hairy cell leukemia and other blood cancers.

We are thrilled to highlight presentations from researchers funded through our HCL2025 initiative. Our first highlight is Elliot Eton from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

This study employs single-cell RNA* sequencing on bone marrow cells from newly diagnosed HCL patients, revealing distinct clustering of HCL cells and heightened inflammatory responses compared to normal memory B cells.

Additionally, single-cell ATAC** sequencing uncovered variations between HCL cells and normal cells, highlighting the presence of the BRAFV600E mutation in classical hairy cells.

HCL cells exhibit significant similarities with memory B cells and demonstrate extensive interactions with immune cells, which affect their behavior.

This work is ongoing. Eton and his colleagues hope to delve further into the effects of treatment on HCL and associated immune dysfunction.

For the abstract, check out this link.

You can explore details of the HCL2025 research initiative, a partnership the Hairy Cell Leukemia Foundation established with LLS to expand and strengthen research and discovery in hairy cell leukemia.

(*Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a nucleic acid present in all living cells that has structural similarities to DNA. Unlike DNA, RNA is most often single-stranded. An RNA molecule is made of alternating phosphate groups and the sugar ribose rather than the deoxyribose found in DNA.)

(**Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin (ATAC-seq) is a technique that analyzes chromatin accessibility across the genome. Sequencing regions of open chromatin can help uncover how chromatin packaging and other factors affect gene expression.)