Common mechanism of chromosome inversion in B- and T-cell tumors: relevance to lymphoid development.
An inversion of chromosome 14 present in the tumor cells of a patient with childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia of B-cell lineage was shown to be the result of a site-specific recombination event between an immunoglobulin heavy-chain variable gene and the joining segment of a T-cell receptor alpha chain. This rearrangement resulted in the formation of a hybrid gene, part immunoglobulin and part T-cell receptor. Furthermore, this hybrid gene was transcribed into messenger RNA with a completely open reading frame. Thus, two loci felt to be normally activated at distinct and disparate points in lymphocyte development were unified and expressed in this tumor.
D001402:B-Lymphocytes; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002648:Child; D007446:Chromosome Inversion; D002901:Chromosomes, Human, 13-15; D006801:Humans; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / Q000235:genetics*; D007945:Leukemia, Lymphoid / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D008957:Models, Genetic; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / Q000235:genetics*; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D013601:T-Lymphocytes; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell