The presence of TEL/AML1 rearrangement and cryptic deletion of the TEL gene in adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
TEL/AML1 (also known as ETV6/RUNX1) rearrangement is the most frequent genetic change in childhood B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and is associated with a favorable prognosis. Its presence in adult ALL, however, has been questionable, and any association between TEL/AML1 rearrangement and clinical prognosis is unknown. To reveal the presence and incidence of the TEL/AML1 rearrangement in adult ALL, we applied fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). We conducted extra-signal, dual-color fluorescence in situ hybridization (ES-FISH) for TEL/AML1 rearrangement on bone marrow cells from 74 adult ALL patients and analyzed the survival time. We demonstrated the TEL/AML1 rearrangement in 2 patients (2.7%) among 74 patients with ALL. Of 74 adult ALL patients, 3 (4.0%) showed deletion of the TEL gene without TEL/AML1 rearrangement. The mean survival time of patients with TEL/AML1+ALL and patients with cryptic TEL deletion was 33 and 5 months, respectively, whereas the mean survival time of 53 TEL/AML1-ALL patients was 16.7 months. TEL/AML1 rearrangement is not unique in childhood ALL, and cryptic TEL deletion without TEL/AML1 rearrangement was more frequent than the TEL/AML1 rearrangement in adult ALL. We recommend TEL/AML1 FISH in adult ALL patients because conventional cytogenetic studies so far have yielded uninformative results.
Lee
Dong Soon
DS
Department of Laboratory Medicine and Cancer Research Institute, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 28 Yongun-dong, Chongro-gu, Seoul 110-744, Korea. soonlee@plaza.snu.ac.kr
Kim
Young Ree
YR
Cho
Hyung Kyun
HK
Lee
Chung Kee
CK
Lee
Jee Hyung
JH
Cho
Han Ik
HI
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D050676:Core Binding Factor Alpha 2 Subunit / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D017353:Gene Deletion; D015321:Gene Rearrangement; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015514:Oncogene Proteins, Fusion / Q000235:genetics*; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000235:genetics*; D050783:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-ets / Q000235:genetics*; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D000097764:ETS Translocation Variant 6 Protein
D050676:Core Binding Factor Alpha 2 Subunit; D015514:Oncogene Proteins, Fusion; D050783:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-ets; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D000097764:ETS Translocation Variant 6 Protein; C102421:TEL-AML1 fusion protein