Clonal evolution of pre-malignant B-cells in the absence of AID

Infections during early childhood have been associated to the development of childhood B-cell acute leukemia (B-ALL). We recently showed that natural exposure to infectious pathogen induced development of overt B-ALL in mouse models mimicking the human genetic predisposition to B-ALL. In addition to its role as central effector of somatic hypermutation and class-switch recombination in B-cells, AID contributes to B-cell transformation. Likewise, a recent mouse mod