title: Prevalence of ETV6/RUNX1 Fusion Gene in Pediatric Patients with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Iran.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  ETV6/RUNX1 (also known as TEL/AML1) is the most frequent gene fusion in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Sixty-three patients were enrolled in this study to explore the distribution of this gene in Iranian population.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study used 63 peripheral blood and bone marrow (PB/BM) samples from children with ALL. Immunophenotyping of PB and BM samples were performed using flow cytometry to illustrate the lineage. Moreover, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique was used to amplify transcripts of leukemia-specific chromosome fusion gene ETV6/RUNX1 and to monitor the expression levels of the ETV6/RUNX1 in patients according to Van Dongen et al protocol.
  
  
  RESULTS
  On the basis of French-American-British (FAB) classification, 47 individuals had ALL-L1. The incidence of ETV6/RUNX1 fusion gene in this study was 34.9%. The laboratory and clinical features of twenty two ETV6/RUNX1 positive ALL cases were similar to those of other studies. The most positive cases of ETV6/RUNX1 fusion gene had the early pre B ALL and pre B ALL immunophenotypes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The ETV6/RUNX1 fusion gene is a common genetic anomaly in Iranian childhood ALL patients and the prevalence of the ETV6/RUNX1 fusion gene is similar to that of ALL patients in other countries. However early pre B cells were the most common type in studied patients.
authors.affiliation: Allied Medical School, Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ahmad-Reza
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Rahnemoon
authors.affiliation: Allied Medical School, Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Farhad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zaker
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran ; Children's Medical Center, Pediatrics Center of Excellence, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Izadyar
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Shahla
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ansari
authors.affiliation: Islamic Azad University of Medical Sciences, Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Behzad
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Poopak
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Biology NAS RA, Yerevan, Armenia.
authors.forename: Yuri
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tadavosyan
keywords: Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; ETV6/RUNX1 Fusion; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Reverse Transcriptase