Detection and biological characteristic of FLT3 gene mutations in children with acute leukemia.
BACKGROUND
FLT3 ITD and D835 mutations occur in high frequency in AML and to a lower rate in ALL patients with poor prognosis.


METHODS
ITD and D835 mutations were studied in 100 diagnosed acute leukemia patients including 27 AML and 73 ALL with various FAB classifications by PCR and PCR-RFLP, respectively. Subsequently, PCR products of positive samples were confirmed by sequencing analyses.


RESULTS
ITD mutations occurred in 10% of all pediatric acute leukemia, including AML and ALL. 25.9% of AML patients harbor a mutation in the ITD in various subtypes. The frequency of ITD mutations was 4% in ALL. Various insertions of nucleotides in ITD were observed, similar to those described in the literature previously.


CONCLUSIONS
These preliminary data suggest that flt3-ITD mutations may play an important role in leukemogenesis in a proportion of children, particularly in the case of AML.
Department of Hematology, School of Allied Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.farhadz20@yahoo.com.
Nahid
N
Nasiri
Department of Science and Research, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
Maryam
M
Shaikhy
1)Department of Hematology, School of Allied Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 3)Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Farhad
F
Zaker
Department of Hematology, School of Allied Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Soudabeh
S
Hosseini
Department of Laboratory Sciences, School of Allied Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Seyed Akbar
SA
Moosavi
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Gorgan Faculty of Medicine, Golestan University Medical Sciences, Gorgan, Iran.
Abdol Jalal
AJ
Marjani
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008297:Male; D017354:Point Mutation; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D020080:Tandem Repeat Sequences; D051941:fms-Like Tyrosine Kinase 3 / Q000235:genetics*
C497970:FLT3 protein, human; D051941:fms-Like Tyrosine Kinase 3