Abstract
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) occurring in infants less than 1 year of age differs clinically and biologically from that observed in older children. Cytogenetically, 11q23 translocations are detected in approximately 50% of infant ALLs and fuse the 11q23 gene HRX with a variety of partner chromosomal loci. Overall, HRX rearrangements are detected molecularly in 70–80% of infant ALLs as compared to 5–7% of ALLs arising in older children. Two recently described molecular abnormalities in childhood ALL are ETV6 gene rearrangements and homozygous deletions of p16INK4A and/or p15INK4B. Each of these abnormalities occurs in 15–20% of all childhood ALLs, and neither can be accurately identified by routine cytogenetic analyses. The incidence of these genetic abnormalities and their potential relationship to HRX gene status in infant ALL is unknown. Using Southern blot analyses, we determined ETV6 and p16INK4A/p15INK4B gene status in a cohort of infant ALLs. No ETV6 rearrangements or homozygous deletions (n = 69) or homozygous p16INK4A and/or p15INK4B gene deletions (n = 54) were detected in any of the infant ALLs. Therefore, ETV6 and p16INK4A/p15INK4B do not play a significant role in the pathogenesis of infant ALL, further emphasizing the distinctive biology of this subset of leukemias.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Maloney, K., Rubnitz, J., Cleary, M. et al. Lack of ETV6 (TEL) gene rearrangements or p16INK4A/p15INK4B homozygous gene deletions in infant acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Leukemia 11, 979–983 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2400687
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2400687
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
t(7;12)(q36;p13) and t(7;12)(q32;p13) – translocations involving ETV6 in children 18 months of age or younger with myeloid disorders
Leukemia (2001)
-
P15—A new tumor suppressor gene
Chinese Science Bulletin (1999)