Last year, the Cancer Epigenetics group, led by Dr Manel Esteller, published a relevant study on the mechanism explaining how cancer cells can be turned into normal harmless ones in vitro, on the high-impact journal Leukemia. In this article, authored by Alberto Bueno, they described how highly proliferative leukemia cells end up becoming normal cells that no longer multiply, by changing the chemical modifications of a type of its genetic material: the messenger RNA. The findings reported represented one of the first clues that not only the genome and the epigenome are altered in hematological malignancies, but also the epitranscriptome.

Now, the discovery has been recognized among the “Readers Choice: The best of Leukemia 2022”. In this collection, the journal highlights a selection of articles from 2022, which top the list of the journal’s most cited, downloaded and shared publications. The articles showcase the breadth of scope and coverage that the journal consistently delivers to its readers and the impact of the reported findings in the field.

Article:

Bueno-Costa A, Piñeyro D, García-Prieto CA, Ortiz-Barahona V, Martinez-Verbo L, Webster NA, Andrews B, Kol N, Avrahami C, Moshitch-Moshkovitz S, Rechavi G, Esteller M. Remodeling of the m6A RNA landscape in the conversion of acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells to macrophages. Leukemia. 2022 Aug;36(8):2121-2124. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-022-01621-1