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Amplification of band q22 of chromosome 21, including AML1, in older children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia: an emerging molecular cytogenetic subgroup

Leukemia volume 17, pages 1679–1682 (2003)Cite this article

TO THE EDITOR

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a heterogeneous disease at the chromosomal and molecular levels. Several subgroups of chromosomal abnormalities have been identified in pediatric B-cell precursor ALL: hyperdiploidy in which more than 50 chromosomes are present, near haploidy, and translocations t(12;21), t(1;19), t(9;22), and t(4;11) or other 11q23 abnormalities. With the development of specific fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) probes to evaluate metaphase chromosomes or interphase nuclei, chromosomal abnormalities can now be detected when leukemic cells have cryptic alterations or a karyotype that cannot be determined. The frequent use of TEL-AML1 probes to evaluate the cryptic t(12;21) have identified isolated cases in which the AML1 gene is amplified or over-represented.1,2,3,4,5 This chromosomal abnormality is most often detected by conventional cytogenetic methods as a tandem duplication of chromosome band 21q22 or as marker chromosomes of unknown origin.1-5 However, in B-cell precursor ALL, various numerical and structural abnormalities of chromosome 21 can lead to multiple copies of AML1. Among the abnormalities are trisomy or tetrasomy 21 (which can be the sole abnormality or associated with high hyperdiploidy >50 chromosomes), and isochromosomes 21q or ider(21q)t(12;21). Therefore, more stringent molecular methods of detection are needed to specifically identify AML1 amplification.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health (CA 21765), the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities, and the French Department of Health (Programme de Soutien aux Innovations Diagnostiques et Thérapeutiques Coûteuses). We thank Dr JC Jones (St Jude Children's Research Hospital) for critical reading of the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre Hospitalier Universitaire (CHU) Saint Louis, AP-HP, Paris, France

    J Soulier & A Baruchel

  2. The Chaim Sheba Medical Center,Tel-Hashomer, Israel

    L Trakhtenbrot

  3. The Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    V Najfeld & J M Lipton

  4. New York Presbyterian Hospital-Cornell Campus Cornell University Weill Medical College, New York, NY, USA

    S Mathew

  5. CHU, Nantes, France

    H Avet-Loiseau

  6. CHU, Brest, France

    M De Braekeleer

  7. CHU, Nice, France

    S Salem & S D Raynaud

  8. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA

    S C Raimondi

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Soulier, J., Trakhtenbrot, L., Najfeld, V. et al. Amplification of band q22 of chromosome 21, including AML1, in older children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia: an emerging molecular cytogenetic subgroup. Leukemia 17, 1679–1682 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2403000

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