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Technical Clinical Correlates in Patients with AML1

Comparison of outcome in acute myelogenous leukemia patients with translocation (8;21) found by standard cytogenetic analysis and patients with AML1/ETO fusion transcript found only by PCR testing

Leukemia volume 15, pages 57–61 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Patients with normal-karyotype acute myelogenous leukemia (NKAML) may have undetected genetic abnormalities that could affect prognosis. Screening for known AML-specific genetic abnormalities using the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) may help in arriving at a more definitive prognosis. To test this hypothesis, 104 patients without translocation (8;21) and inversion(16), as shown by standard cytogenetic (SC) analysis, were screened for these two genetic abnormalities using RT-PCR. Western blot analysis for the AML1/ETO fusion protein and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis for t(8;21) were performed in patients for whom we had samples. The characteristics and outcome after high-dose cytarabine containing treatments in five patients with t(8;21) shown by RT-PCR alone were then compared to 21 patients with t(8;21) detected using SC analysis. Eight of the 104 patients had masked t(8;21) and none had masked inv(16), as shown by RT-PCR. Five of 54 patients with NKAML had a detectable AML1/ETO fusion RNA transcript. Western blot analysis showed the AML1/ETO fusion protein in four of the seven patients for whom we had samples among the eight with masked t(8;21) shown by RT-PCR. All patients with t(8;21) shown by RT-PCR had negative FISH results. Ninety percent (n = 19) of the patients with t(8;21) shown by SC analysis and 40% (n = 2) of the patients with t(8;21) shown by RT-PCR alone achieved a complete remission (Pvalue 0.03). These data suggest that the outcome of NKAML patients with t(8;21) shown by RT-PCR is not equivalent to patients with t(8;21) by SC studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hematology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA

    JE Sarriera, Z Estrov, S Kornblau, H Kantarjian & E Estey

  2. Department of Laboratory Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA

    M Albitar, C Gidel, R Aboul-Nasr, T Manshouri & K-S Chang

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  1. JE Sarriera
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  2. M Albitar
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Sarriera, J., Albitar, M., Estrov, Z. et al. Comparison of outcome in acute myelogenous leukemia patients with translocation (8;21) found by standard cytogenetic analysis and patients with AML1/ETO fusion transcript found only by PCR testing. Leukemia 15, 57–61 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2401951

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