BCR/ABL translocation in adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a comparison of conventional and interphase cytogenetic studies.
Twenty-four adult Chinese patients with de novo acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) were studied for the BCR/ABL translocation using both conventional cytogenetics and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Eight (33%) patients had the translocation as shown by FISH and all were B-lineage ALL (8/19, 42%). Conventional cytogenetics revealed a t(9;22)(q34;q11) in six of them, but was either unsuccessful, or not done in the other two. Seven of the eight positive cases (88%) showed a breakpoint at the minor breakpoint cluster region (m-BCR), which was confirmed by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). To conclude, the frequency of BCR/ABL translocation in Chinese patients with de novo ALL is comparable to patients in the Western hemisphere, in contrast to a previous report. The predominance of m-BCR/ABL fusion among these Chinese patients with BCR/ABL translocation is also similar to patients in the Western population. Fluorescence in situ hybridization is a sensitive, specific and relatively simple technique for demonstrating this important unfavorable prognostic marker in ALL, even in a routine service laboratory setting.
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Department of Pathology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China.
Wong
K F
KF
Chung
J
J
Kwong
Y L
YL
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl / Q000235:genetics; D016313:Genes, abl; D006801:Humans; D007399:Interphase; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015513:Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000235:genetics*; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D051562:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcr; D014178:Translocation, Genetic
D015513:Oncogene Proteins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl; C496613:BCR protein, human; D051562:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcr