Diagnostic significance and clinical applications of chimeric genes in Ewing's sarcoma.
Ewing's sarcoma (ES) is one of the most malignant bone and soft tissue tumors in childhood. Morphologically, ES belongs to the small round cell tumors (SRCT). ES, peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET), and Askin's tumor are classified as ES family tumors (ESFT) because they share a common chromosomal translocation. The EWS-FLI1 chimeric gene is generated by t (11; 22). Other reciprocal translocations resulting in formation of chimeric genes between EWS and ETS family genes (ERG, ETV1, E1AF, and FEV) are t (21; 22), t (7; 22), t (17; 22), and t (2; 22), respectively. Although it is generally difficult to distinguish ES from SRCT, we could easily and quickly distinguish ES from other SRCT by using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). We looked for specific chimeric genes in 23 tumor samples, including three ES clinical samples. We detected five chimeric genes in the three ES samples. Three chimeric genes, all EWS-FLI1, were detected in one ES sample. Different chimeric genes, EWS-ERG and EWS-ETV1, were detected in the other two ES samples. Moreover, because we could not detect specific chimeric genes in samples from non-ESFT, it may be possible to use this technique to diagnose ESFT and to detect tumor cell contamination before hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Nihon University, Narashinodai, Funabashi-shi, Chiba, Japan.
Naoko
N
Yoshino
Tetsuko
T
Kojima
Satoru
S
Asami
Shigeyasu
S
Motohashi
Yoshikazu
Y
Yoshida
Motoaki
M
Chin
Hiroyuki
H
Shichino
Yukihiro
Y
Yoshida
Norimichi
N
Nemoto
Michio
M
Kaneko
Hideo
H
Mugishima
Takashi
T
Suzuki
D000293:Adolescent; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D015514:Oncogene Proteins, Fusion / Q000235:genetics*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012512:Sarcoma, Ewing / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D015514:Oncogene Proteins, Fusion