title: Detection of clonotypic IGH and TCR rearrangements in the neonatal blood spots of infants and children with B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
abstract: An attractive hypothesis is that in utero exposure of hematopoietic cells to oncogenic agents can induce molecular changes leading to overt acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in infants and perhaps older children as well. Although supported by studies of identical infant twins with concordant leukemia, and of nontwined patients with MLL gene rearrangements, this concept has not been extended to the larger population of B-lineage ALL patients who lack unique nonconstitutive mutations or abnormally rearranged genes. We therefore sought to demonstrate a prenatal origin for 7 cases of B-cell precursor ALL (either CD10(+) or CD10(-)) that had been diagnosed in infants and children 14 days to 9 years of age. Using a polymerase chain reaction-based assay, we identified the same clonotypic immunoglobulin heavy-chain complementarity determining region or T-cell receptor V(D)2-D(D)3 sequences in the neonatal blood spots (Guthrie card) and leukemic cell DNAs of 2 infants with CD10(-) ALL and 2 of the 5 older patients with CD10(+) ALL. Nucleotide sequencing showed a paucity of N or P regions and shortened D germ line and conserved J sequences, indicative of cells arising from fetal hematopoiesis. Our findings strongly suggest a prenatal origin for some cases of B-cell precursor ALL lacking specific clonotypic abnormalities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan. yagi@ped.kpu-m.ac.jp
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yagi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hibi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tabata
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kuriyama
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Teramura
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hashida
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takimoto
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Todo
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sawada
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Imashuku
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D002051:Burkitt Lymphoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D015321:Gene Rearrangement; D015329:Gene Rearrangement, T-Lymphocyte; D016694:Gene Rearrangement, delta-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor; D005803:Genes, Immunoglobulin; D011495:Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase; D006801:Humans; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / Q000235:genetics*; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D051788:Myeloid-Lymphoid Leukemia Protein; D011289:Preleukemia / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D011519:Proto-Oncogenes; D017260:Receptor-CD3 Complex, Antigen, T-Cell / Q000235:genetics; D014157:Transcription Factors; D016335:Zinc Fingers
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains; C497422:KMT2A protein, human; D017260:Receptor-CD3 Complex, Antigen, T-Cell; D014157:Transcription Factors; D051788:Myeloid-Lymphoid Leukemia Protein; D011495:Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase