Clinical significance of major and minor bcr/abl chimeric transcripts in essential thrombocythemia.
BACKGROUND
Contradictory results have been reported in terms of detecting bcr/abl transcripts in patients with essential thrombocythemia. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the bcr/abl transcript could be found in patients with essential thrombocythemia (ET).


METHODS
The bcr/abl transcript was amplified by the RT-nested PCR method using RNA extract from leukocytes taken from 14 essential thrombocythemia patients. The amplified DNAs were electrophoresed in 1% agarose and visualized with ethidium bromide. The DNA bands associated with the bcr/abl transcript were then extracted and followed by DNA sequence analysis.


RESULTS
Major bcr/abl transcripts of the b3a2 type and minor ones of the e1a2 type were found in one and two ET patients, respectively. The incidence of bcr/abl transcripts was 21.4% (three of 14 patients).


CONCLUSIONS
Our experiments confirmed that bcr/abl transcripts are present in some patients with essential thrombocythemia.
Yamada
H
H
Department of Hematology, Nagoya National Hospital, Japan. hayabusa@kctv.ne.jp
Murakami
T
T
Kaneda
T
T
Tadachi
M
M
Utsumi
M
M
Minami
S
S
Hamaguchi
M
M
Kasai
M
M
Kodera
Y
Y
Ohashi
H
H
Morishita
Y
Y
Terasawa
T
T
Yamasaki
Y
Y
Kamiya
Y
Y
Hattori
M
M
Yamanaka
K
K
Tsushita
K
K
Shimoyama
M
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015514:Oncogene Proteins, Fusion / Q000235:genetics*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013920:Thrombocythemia, Essential / Q000235:genetics*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D015514:Oncogene Proteins, Fusion; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl