title: Geographic/ethnic variability of chromosomal and molecular abnormalities in leukemia.
abstract: In 1963, Jean Bernard, a French hematologist, opened a new chapter in hematology called geographic hematology ('Hématologie Géographique'). He distinguished two research avenues. One dealt with the differences between the various populations (ethnic hematology), the other with various environmental factors (environmental hematology). In recent years, focus has been put on analyzing the genetic susceptibility in cancer and hematological malignancies, particularly in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia, using specific gene or (genome-wide association study) approach. However, almost 30 years ago, it was suggested by a few workers that chromosomal abnormalities observed in leukemia could have a geographic and/or ethnic distribution. In this review, we analyze the literature on chromosomal and molecular abnormalities in several types of leukemia.
authors.affiliation: a 1 Laboratoire d'Histologie, Embryologie et Cytogénétique, Faculté de Médecine et des Sciences de la Santé, Université de Brest, Brest, France.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Braekeleer
authors.forename: Etienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: De Braekeleer
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Douet-Guilbert
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology
keywords: acute lymphoblastic leukemia; acute promyeloblastic leukemia; chromosomal abnormalities; chronic myeloid leukemia; fusion genes; geographic distribution