Citation

George BM, Rodriguez-Pöhnlein A, DeCastro DJ, Porat J, Zhou B, Abeja DM, Lumpkin RJ, Metivier RJ, Schmoker A, Walter W, Haferlach T, Pikman Y, Donovan KA, Stegmaier K, Fischer ES, Wachter F, Flynn RA. 2026. Unbiased, systematic surfaceome profiling of Acute Leukemia to identify novel immunotherapy targets. bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology. Pubmed: 42780029 DOI:10.64898/2026.09.16.752145

Abstract

Cell surface proteomics provides a direct topological assessment of the outer membrane of cells and enables the capture of low abundance proteins that may be missed by whole cell proteomics. Here we present an unbiased atlas of the whole cell and surface proteomes of 25 commonly used leukemic cell lines, encompassing both lymphoid and myeloid lineages, and a variety of driver mutations. Paired-wise analysis highlights recurrent surface proteins that are not detected by whole cell proteomics. Coupling this dataset to RNA-sequencing, we also discovered genes where protein and RNA abundances are discordant. In KMT2A-rearranged AML, CD70 expression was increased across cell lines and validated in primary patient samples, supporting CD70 as a candidate therapeutic target in this disease. Several proteins are enriched in the surface proteomes but lack surface annotation, adding to the list of non-canonical cell surface proteins, including RNA-binding proteins, an emerging class of candidate immunotherapeutic targets.

Related Faculty

Photo of Ryan Flynn

Ryan Flynn’s laboratory is focused on the exploration and discovery of how biopolymers like RNA and glycans work together to control cellular processes in the context of human disease.

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