Interleukin-7 Receptor α Mutational Activation Can Initiate Precursor B Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

The authors demonstrated that lymphoid-restricted mutant IL7R, expressed at physiological levels in conditional knock-in mice, established a pre-leukemic stage in which B cell precursors displayed self-renewal ability, initiating leukemia resembling PAX5 P80R or Ph-like human B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia.