Distribution of common genetic subgroups in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia in four developing countries.
An international project was conducted to identify the common acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)-specific fusion genes (ETV6-RUNX1,MLL-AF4,TCF3-PBX1, and BCR-ABL1) in developing countries to provide additional prognostic information at diagnosis. A total of 181 children with newly diagnosed ALL were tested by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction at laboratories in India, Pakistan, Myanmar, and Sudan, following a common protocol. To our knowledge, this report is novel in its report from these countries, except India. Across the four countries, the ETV6-RUNX1 (TEL-AML1) fusion gene was present in only 5% of cases. All the positive samples were from children aged 1 to 10 years, in whom the prevalence of this fusion gene, which is associated with good prognosis, was 7.4% (9 out of 121 samples), a much lower rate than reported from Western populations. In the 18 ALL cases tested in Sudan, a notable excess of MLL-AF4 (17%) and BCR-ABL1 (22%) fusion genes was found. This study highlights the need for wider international surveys of the molecular epidemiology of ALL.
Siddiqui
Rubina
R
National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
Nancy
Nirmala
N
Naing
Win P
WP
Ali
Sarah
S
Dar
Lalit
L
Khan
Baldip K
BK
Padua
Rose A
RA
Carr
Robert
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D050676:Core Binding Factor Alpha 2 Subunit; D005260:Female; D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D002052:Myanmar; D051788:Myeloid-Lymphoid Leukemia Protein / Q000235:genetics; D015514:Oncogene Proteins, Fusion / Q000235:genetics; D010154:Pakistan; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000235:genetics*; D013397:Sudan; D000097764:ETS Translocation Variant 6 Protein
D050676:Core Binding Factor Alpha 2 Subunit; D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl; D051788:Myeloid-Lymphoid Leukemia Protein; D015514:Oncogene Proteins, Fusion; C113855:MLL-AF4 fusion protein, human; C102421:TEL-AML1 fusion protein; D000097764:ETS Translocation Variant 6 Protein