title: Clinical significance of major and minor bcr/abl chimeric transcripts in essential thrombocythemia.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Nagoya National Hospital, Japan. hayabusa@kctv.ne.jp
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kaneda
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tadachi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Utsumi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Minami
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hamaguchi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kasai
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kodera
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohashi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Morishita
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Terasawa
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamasaki
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kamiya
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hattori
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamanaka
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tsushita
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shimoyama
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D015514:Oncogene Proteins, Fusion; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl