Consequences of p53 loss and Gastrin for aGVHD of the Stomach

In this week's episode, Blood podcast editor Dr. James Griffin interviews authors Drs. Steffen Boettcher and Robert Zeiser on their recent publications in Blood. Dr. Boettcher discusses "Bone marrow failure, somatic rescue by p53 inactivation, and enhanced leukemogenesis in germ line ERCC6L2 disease", which provides insights to disease evolution by demonstrating that p53 loss can rescue BMF phenotypes caused by biallelic mutations in ERCC6L2, but at the cost of profound genome instability, increasing DNA damage and leading to the onset of aggressive erythroid leukemia. Dr. Zeiser discusses "Gastrin for the treatment of acute graft-versus-host-disease of the stomach", which delineates the protective role of gastrin in aGVHD of the stomach in mice and patients and provides a rationale for therapeutic use of pentagastrin in a clinical trial for patients with aGVHD.