Peer-Reviewed Validation Case Study: CytoSolve® Systems Architecture for Acute Myeloid Leukemia with Stanford University

Partner Description

Stanford University
Stanford University, through its Division of Hematology and Oncology, collaborated on advancing systems-level understanding of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The collaboration contributed deep clinical and translational oncology expertise to a computational effort aimed at organizing the AML tumor microenvironment into a rigorous molecular systems framework.

Challenge

Acute myeloid leukemia is a multifactorial disease driven not only by genetic mutations within leukemic cells but also by extensive molecular crosstalk with the surrounding bone marrow microenvironment. This microenvironment includes endothelial cells, stromal cells, immune cells, and other supporting cell types that collectively promote leukemic cell survival, proliferation, immune evasion, and therapy resistance.

Traditional reductionist approaches were insufficient to capture these interconnected signaling networks, making it difficult to systematically identify therapeutic targets or understand how perturbations in one pathway propagate across the disease system.

How CytoSolve Helped

CytoSolve, Inc. provided its CytoSolve® molecular systems architecture to support a systematic, peer-reviewed bioinformatics review and organization of AML signaling biology. Using CytoSolve®, hundreds of peer-reviewed publications were curated and structured into an integrated, multi-layered systems architecture representing intracellular and intercellular signaling across the AML microenvironment.

The architecture organized molecular pathways governing leukemic cell proliferation, apoptosis resistance, angiogenesis, metabolic reprogramming, and immune suppression. By preserving pathway provenance and mapping interactions across multiple cell types, the CytoSolve® framework enabled a coherent representation of AML pathogenesis suitable for mechanistic reasoning and future in silico experimentation.

Key Benefits Realized

  • Peer-reviewed validation of a comprehensive molecular systems architecture for AML.
  • Integration of leukemic cell signaling with stromal, endothelial, and immune microenvironment pathways.
  • Preservation of pathway-level detail while enabling system-wide interpretation.
  • Identification of convergent signaling mechanisms driving cell survival and immune evasion.
  • Foundational framework for future in silico target discovery and combination therapy modeling.

Outcome

The collaboration resulted in a peer-reviewed publication in Cancers (2022) presenting the first comprehensive molecular systems architecture of the AML microenvironment, co-authored by Stanford University investigators. The validated architecture provides a blueprint for understanding AML as an integrated disease system rather than a collection of isolated pathways. This work establishes CytoSolve® as a rigorously validated platform for organizing complex cancer biology and supports Stanford-led translational efforts to identify novel single and combination therapeutic strategies for AML.