Abstract
We studied the expression of HoxA9 and Meis1 by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analysis in leukaemic cells from cases of infant acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL, n = 27) and childhood ALL (n = 29). These two genes were co-expressed significantly more frequently in infant ALL than in childhood ALL (19/27 vs0/29 cases, P < 0.001) and were highly associated with MLL gene rearrangement in infant ALL cases (P < 0.001). These findings indicate that the HoxA9 and Meis1 genes are closely associated with MLL gene rearrangement in the development of infant ALL, which represents a distinct entity of childhood ALL.
MeSH terms
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Chromosomes, Human, Pair 11 / genetics
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Chromosomes, Human, Pair 4 / genetics
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Chromosomes, Human, Pair 9 / genetics
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Gene Rearrangement
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Homeodomain Proteins / genetics*
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Homeodomain Proteins / metabolism
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Humans
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Infant
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Infant, Newborn
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Myeloid Ecotropic Viral Integration Site 1 Protein
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Neoplasm Proteins / genetics*
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Neoplasm Proteins / metabolism
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Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / genetics*
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Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / metabolism
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Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
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Up-Regulation
Substances
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Homeodomain Proteins
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MEIS1 protein, human
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Myeloid Ecotropic Viral Integration Site 1 Protein
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Neoplasm Proteins
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homeobox protein HOXA9