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Expression of the adaptor protein BLNK/SLP-65 in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Leukemia volume 18, pages 922–925 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Deficient expression of BLNK, an adaptor molecule crucial for normal B-cell development, is associated with increased pro-B/pre-B-cell expansion in mice. It has been proposed that BLNK deficiency is a primary cause of B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). We studied BLNK expression in the leukemic cells from 352 patients with childhood ALL (309 B-lineage; 43 T-lineage). By HG_U95Av2 Affymetrix GeneChip analysis, BLNK was expressed in 275 of 284 (96.8%) B-lineage ALL samples but in only one of 43 (2.3%) T-lineage ALL samples. Of 118 B-lineage ALL samples analyzed with the HG_U133A GeneChip, 117 (99.2%) expressed BLNK. All 30 primary B-lineage ALL samples studied by RT-PCR expressed BLNK transcripts; all 19 samples studied by Western blotting or flow cytometry expressed BLNK protein. Levels of BLNK in B-lineage ALL were as high as those of their normal counterparts; they were not related with genetic subgroups or differentiation stage. These results indicate that BLNK deficiency is a rare occurrence in childhood B-lineage ALL and is unlikely to be a common leukemogenic event as previously proposed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hematology-Oncology, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, North Lauderdale, Memphis, TN, USA

    C Imai, M E Ross, E Coustan-Smith, C H Pui & D Campana

  2. Department of Pathology, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, North Lauderdale, Memphis, TN, USA

    M E Ross, C H Pui, J R Downing & D Campana

  3. Department of Pediatrics, Division of Hematology-Oncology/Bone Marrow Transplantation, University of British Columbia and British Columbia's Children's Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    G Reid & K R Schultz

  4. University of Tennessee College of Medicine, Memphis, TN, USA

    C H Pui, J R Downing & D Campana

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  1. C Imai
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  2. M E Ross
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  3. G Reid
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  4. E Coustan-Smith
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  6. C H Pui
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  7. J R Downing
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  8. D Campana
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to D Campana.

Additional information

This work was supported by grants CA58297 and CA21765 from the National Cancer Institute, by the American Cancer Society FM Kirby Clinical Research Professorship (to C-HP) and by the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC)

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Imai, C., Ross, M., Reid, G. et al. Expression of the adaptor protein BLNK/SLP-65 in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Leukemia 18, 922–925 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2403349

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