RT-PCR screening for ETV6-RUNX1-positive clones in cord blood from newborns in the Danish National Birth Cohort.
BACKGROUND
Several large biobanks comprising umbilical cord blood samples have been established allowing efforts to characterize the prevalence and risk factors for preleukemic cell clones in healthy newborns. This study explores the feasibility of demonstrating translocation ETV6-RUNX1 transcripts by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction in newborns enrolled in a large Danish National Birth Cohort.


CONCLUSIONS
The study emphasizes the necessity of either storing viable cord blood cells or preparation of the RNA within 1 to 2 days of birth, in large scale studies of the natural history of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Finally, the estimated frequency of translocation ETV6-RUNX1-positive cells was below 10.
The Pediatric Clinics, Juliane Marie Center, Copenhagen University Hospital, H:S Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark. marianne.olsen@rh.regionh.dk
Marianne
M
Olsen
Henrik
H
Hjalgrim
Mads
M
Melbye
Hans O
HO
Madsen
Kjeld
K
Schmiegelow
D001771:Blood Banks; D015331:Cohort Studies; D050676:Core Binding Factor Alpha 2 Subunit; D003718:Denmark; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D015514:Oncogene Proteins, Fusion / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics*; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D012307:Risk Factors; D000097764:ETS Translocation Variant 6 Protein
D050676:Core Binding Factor Alpha 2 Subunit; D015514:Oncogene Proteins, Fusion; C102421:TEL-AML1 fusion protein; D000097764:ETS Translocation Variant 6 Protein