Studies on a mouse model of T cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia/lymphoma (T-ALL) showed that T cell-specific knockout of the Prkaa1 gene (encoding AMPK-α1, the sole catalytic subunit isoform in T cells) led to earlier onset and more rapid development of T-ALL triggered by Pten knockout, showing that AMPK can act as a tumour suppressor [21]. Here, PTEN is linked to T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.