title: Detection of BCR/ABL translocation by polymerase chain reaction in leukemic progenitor cells (ALL-CFU) from patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
abstract: In about 30% of cases, BCR/ABL transcripts are present in freshly isolated mononuclear cells from the bone marrow of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. We applied PCR to investigate the leukemic nature of ALL colony-forming unit (ALL-CFU) colonies grown in a clonogenic assay using a double feeder system. The high sensitivity of PCR enables us to detect 1 leukemic cell among 10(5) normal cells. Several controls were taken to assess contamination. In this report we studied three patients with ALL. In all of them, BCR/ABL transcripts were detected at initial diagnosis. We showed that the PCR technique could identify the leukemic nature of ALL-CFU progenitors. In addition, we demonstrated the nonleukemic nature of granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming unit (CFU-GM) and erythroid burst-forming unit (BFU-E) colonies using the same analysis. We conclude that the PCR technique is of great value in the identification of leukemic clones whenever specific molecular markers are present.
authors.affiliation: Formation Affiliated Claude Bernard Unit of Research on Grafts of Hematopoietic Stem Cells, C.H.U. Saint Antoine, Paris, France.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Allieri
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fabrega
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ozsahin
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Douay
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Barbu
authors.forename: N C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Gorin
mesh_terms: D001345:Autoradiography; D001483:Base Sequence; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D016315:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-abl / Q000235:genetics*; D051562:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcr; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D014178:Translocation, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; D016315:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-abl; C496613:BCR protein, human; D051562:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcr