Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts: Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound   Target Concepts: Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound

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Query: EC:2.7.10.2 (focal adhesion kinase)
44,029 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A substantial minority of patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) achieve a complete response to treatment with interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha), defined as the disappearance of Philadelphia chromosome positive metaphases or, for patients who are Philadelphia chromosome negative but BCR-ABL positive, the disappearance of the leukaemic clone as assayed by Southern blot. We have measured the levels of BCR-ABL transcripts in 20 such patients by quantitative PCR. Results were standardized for both quality and quantity of cDNA by quantification of ABL as an internal control. All 20 patients had evidence of residual disease; the median number of transcripts was 750/micrograms RNA (range 10-22,000) and the median BCR-ABL/ABL ratio was 0.17% (range 0.0008-3.6%). Our findings show that CML has not been eradicated in any patient and that the quantity of residual disease in complete responders may vary by as much as four orders of magnitude.
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PMID:Variable numbers of BCR-ABL transcripts persist in CML patients who achieve complete cytogenetic remission with interferon-alpha. 860 27

We designed a new semi-quantitative competitor-based PCR assay to assess the amount of p190 BCR-ABL mRNA in patients with Ph-positive ALL. Transcript numbers were compared in 29 paired specimens of blood and marrow collected contemporaneously from 18 patients at differing stages of disease. In general, the numbers of BCR-ABL transcripts detected in marrow in blood were not significantly different (p = 0.1). However, in four samples BCR-ABL transcripts (< 10-1000/micrograms RNA) were detected in the marrow while the blood was negative; the reverse, positive blood and negative marrow, was not seen. In a further three samples the number of BCR-ABL transcripts was more than 10-fold higher in the marrow. We measured the number of ABL transcripts/micrograms RNA in all samples as an internal standard in order to control for variations in sample quality and other parameters. For two out of the four discordant samples in which blood was PCR negative, the number of ABL transcripts/micrograms RNA detected in the marrow was substantially higher than in the blood, suggesting poor quality blood specimens. However, the ratio of BCR-ABL to ABL in marrow and blood was similar for the three discordant samples in which both tissues were PCR positive. We conclude that in general, blood and marrow contain similar BCR-ABL transcript numbers in Ph-positive ALL but some samples are discordant. Marrow is therefore the preferred tissue for residual disease studies. Quantification of ABL mRNA as an internal control is useful in the interpretation of competitive PCR data and may serve as a robust way to standardize results between laboratories.
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PMID:Quantification of residual disease in Philadelphia-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia: comparison of blood and bone marrow. 786 72

Interferon-alpha induces durable cytogenetic remissions in about one-quarter of newly diagnosed patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Even so, after short-term follow-up, previous studies have shown that residual leukemic cells can be detected by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in all of these individuals. The objectives of our study were therefore to obtain long-term follow-up data on residual disease in a cohort of complete responders and to determine if leukemic cells with clonogenic potential are present in patients despite the absence of relapse. We performed (a) serial analysis of blood and/or bone marrow for a reverse transcriptase PCR amplified BCR-ABL transcript at times well beyond the point that cytogenetic remission was first attained and (b) reverse transcriptase PCR of individually plucked myeloid and erythroid colonies for the presence of the same transcript. Seven CML patients who had previously attained complete cytogenetic remission while on interferon-alpha were investigated. Six of the seven patients were in complete cytogenetic remission at the time of analysis, whereas one patient had early evidence of cytogenetic relapse. With ongoing therapy, five patients with the longest follow-up eventually achieved PCR negativity at time periods of 27, 32, 36, 49, and 67 mo after a complete cytogenetic remission was first noted. Even so, residual disease was detected in progenitor cells derived from two patients, each of whom had been in continuous cytogenetic remission for approximately 2.5 and 3.5 yr, respectively. Progenitors expressing BCR-ABL transcripts were also detected in the patient with early cytogenetic relapse. These observations demonstrate that residual disease resides in colony-forming cells that should have the potential to repopulate the bone marrow. However, the presence of a minority of Ph-positive CML progenitor cells for a very long period of time is still compatible with durable remission, confirming that a situation of tumor dormancy may be induced in CML by interferon therapy.
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PMID:Persistence of dormant leukemic progenitors during interferon-induced remission in chronic myelogenous leukemia. Analysis by polymerase chain reaction of individual colonies. 792 13

We have sought to determine whether peripheral blood or bone marrow is more sensitive for assessment of minimal residual disease in chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML). Contemporaneous blood and marrow specimens were taken from 21 patients at various times after allogeneic bone marrow transplant (BMT) and from one patient in complete cytogenetic remission on alpha-interferon. Samples were analysed for evidence of BCR-ABL mRNA by RT-PCR: four were PCR negative and 19 PCR positive. Results with blood and marrow were concordant in all cases. BCR-ABL transcripts were quantified in PCR-positive samples using a competitive PCR titration assay. Results ranged from < 10 to 2 x 10(6) BCR-ABL transcripts/micrograms RNA. In all 19 cases a high degree of concordance in BCR-ABL levels with blood and marrow (r = 0.99) was found. We conclude that either tissue may be used for residual disease studies after BMT for CML.
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PMID:A comparison of the sensitivity of blood and bone marrow for the detection of minimal residual disease in chronic myeloid leukaemia. 773 83

We have studied 61 patients who underwent allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) for chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) in first chronic phase. Minimal residual disease was detected by the amplification of the leukaemia-specific BCR-ABL fusion mRNA with the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using a highly sensitive nested primer strategy. As a general pattern, patients often had detectable BCR-ABL (PCR positive) for up to 6 or 9 months post BMT after which time BCR-ABL became undetectable (PCR negative). The conversion from PCR positive to PCR negative was not associated with the time at which cyclosporin A treatment was stopped. Six patients (10%) have relapsed during the period of this study, two within 1 year and four more than 1 year after transplant. The relationship between PCR positivity more than 1 year post transplant and relapse was significant (P = 0.036) but 15 patients who were PCR positive beyond 1 year remain in complete clinical and cytogenetic remission. Thus late positivity identifies a group of patients at increased risk of relapse but is of little predictive value for individual patients. Of the four late relapses, two had been persistently PCR positive and two were initially PCR positive, converted to negative and subsequently to positive again. Although all relapses were preceded by PCR positivity, relapse may occur only 12 months after a PCR negative result. The proportion of patients PCR negative at 3/4 months after BMT was found to increase significantly with the severity of acute GVHD (P = 0.002) but no relationship was found between acute GVHD and subsequent PCR results. There was no clear association between severity of chronic GVHD and PCR result.
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PMID:Minimal residual disease after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for chronic myeloid leukaemia in first chronic phase: correlations with acute graft-versus-host disease and relapse. 833 80

We have developed a competitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) titration assay that estimates the number of BCR-ABL transcripts in chronic myeloid leukemia patients to monitor minimal residual disease after bone marrow transplantation (BMT). The assay gave reproducible results and allowed differences in BCR-ABL message levels of half an order of magnitude to be distinguished. Of 91 patients studied by nonquantitative PCR, 28 who had a positive PCR result on at least one occasion posttransplant were analyzed by competitive PCR. Seventeen patients had no evidence in their marrow of cytogenetic relapse during the period of observation; BCR-ABL transcript numbers in these cases ranged from approximately 10 to 800/micrograms RNA. Ten of the 11 patients who relapsed cytogenetically were studied when Philadelphia-positive metaphases were first detected in their marrow; transcript numbers ranged from 1,600 to 7 x 10(5)/micrograms RNA. Patients in hematologic relapse had between 9 x 10(4) and 10(6) BCR-ABL transcripts/micrograms RNA. Patients who progressed from cytogenetic remission to cytogenetic relapse and then to hematologic relapse had increasing numbers of BCR-ABL transcripts in their blood. Three patients had clear evidence of rising numbers of BCR-ABL transcripts before routine detection of cytogenetic relapse. Conversely patients without cytogenetic relapse generally had low or falling numbers of transcripts. We conclude that serial monitoring of residual disease post-BMT by estimating the number of BCR-ABL transcripts provides more information than conventional cytogenetics or nonquantitative PCR and may identify patients in need of therapeutic intervention before the onset of overt relapse.
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PMID:Competitive polymerase chain reaction to estimate the number of BCR-ABL transcripts in chronic myeloid leukemia patients after bone marrow transplantation. 840 Feb 43

To test whether patients in remission after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) possess a pool of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) cells that do not express BCR-ABL mRNA, we have compared the results and sensitivity of amplification of BCR-ABL from genomic DNA with conventional reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Bubble PCR was used to amplify the genomic BCR-ABL translocation breakpoints from chronic-phase DNA of 10 patients with CML who subsequently underwent BMT. After cloning and sequencing of the amplification products, patient-specific ABL primers were synthesized and tested for both specificity and sensitivity in nested or heminested combinations with a variety of primers derived from the major breakpoint cluster region of the BCR gene. In all cases, combinations of primers were selected that enabled the detection of chronic-phase DNA from a specific patient at up to a 10(5)x dilution into DNA from a normal individual. Patterns of residual disease obtained by serial RT-PCR and DNA-PCR analyses of blood and bone marrow samples obtained after BMT were similar for most patients, including one treated for relapse by infusion of donor leukocytes. Of the 24 samples for direct comparison of RT-PCR and DNA-PCR, results were concordant in 19 (79%) cases. Five results were discordant. In two instances, RT-PCR was positive, while PCR from genomic DNA was negative; this discrepancy might have arisen due to the slightly greater sensitivity of RT-PCR compared with DNA-PCR. In three samples from three patients, two of whom had been transplanted in the accelerated phase, PCR from genomic DNA was positive while RT-PCR was negative; this could mean that some CML cells in these samples had a reduced or absent capacity to express BCR-ABL mRNA post-transplant. Of these three patients, one subsequently relapsed; and two are in remission at 21 and 24 months after the discordant result. Thus, the finding of a single DNA-PCR- positive, RT-PCR-negative results does not necessarily predict relapse. Because the great majority of samples (79%) gave concordant results with the two assays, we believe that patients in remission do not generally harbor a substantial pool of CML cells that do not express BCR-ABL mRNA.
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PMID:Comparison of genomic DNA and cDNA for detection of residual disease after treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia with allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. 863 Apr 27

Two types of markers, namely the clone-specific markers including T-cell receptor (TCR) gamma, TCR delta, and Ig heavy-chain (IgH) gene rearrangements, and malignancy-specific fusion gene mRNA such as SIL-TAL-1, BCR-ABL, and HRX-partner genes, were investigated by molecular biology techniques in 65 Chinese patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). In combination, these markers were informative among 96% of patients. Minimal residual disease (MRD) was followed up in 23 of these patients with available materials over a period varying from 8 to 54 months with at least one leukemia-specific probe. In most children, MRD was decreased continuously to an ultimately undetectable level within 6 to 12 months after remission induction therapy. One patient exhibited low-level residual leukemic cells for 4 years before the MRD turned negative. Another patient remained in complete remission for 45 months, although a positive signal was detected at 34 months using TCR delta probe, but was negative with a TCR gamma marker which was positive at presentation. In three patients who relapsed, MRD either persisted through the clinical course or became positive and eventually increased 3-11 months before clinical relapse. These data suggested that the combined use of multiple gene markers is a valuable tool for the PCR-based MRD detection, since it can cover most ALL patients. Furthermore, long-term follow-up of MRD is helpful for determining the dosage as well as the period of maintenance chemotherapy and for predicting impending relapse.
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PMID:Long-term follow-up of minimal residual disease in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients by polymerase chain reaction analysis of multiple clone-specific or malignancy-specific gene markers. 864 Jul 18

The Philadelphia chromosome in cells of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia can be detected by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). We have tested two new methods for this purpose. For diagnostic purposes, three different BCR-ABL translocations (b3a2, b2a2 and ela2) can be detected in a multiprimed, one step PCR reaction. By using a competitor DNA construct and a two-step, nested PCR reaction, a quantitative measure of the number of specific BCR-ABL transcripts can be estimated. We tested five patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. All of them showed positive BCR-ABL translocations in the diagnostic test. Patients with other myeloproliferative disorders, used as controls, were all negative. Quantitative measurements of specific BCR-ABL mRNA showed that as few as ten transcripts could be quantified in the assay. The analysis showed that coefficients of variation between 15% and 30% were obtained for specific transcripts per micrograms RNA, whereas specific BCR-ABL per normal ABL showed a coefficient of variation of 10%. These new methods to detect BCR-ABL translocation by RT-PCR should provide easy and sensitive diagnosis, and possibilities of monitoring residual disease or relapse.
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PMID:[Diagnosis and follow-up in chronic myeloid leukemia. Detection and quantification of specific transcripts with the help of reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction]. 864 73

We describe the isolation of human LH-2, a putative transcription factor containing two cysteine-rich regions (LIM domains) and a homeobox (Hox) DNA-binding domain. High levels of hLH-2 expression were observed in all cases of chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML) tested, regardless of disease status. hLH-2 was mapped to chromosome 9Q33-34.1, in the same region as the reciprocal translocation that creates the BCR-ABL chimera of the Philadelphia chromosome (Ph'), the hallmark of CML; hLH-2 was retained on the derivative 9 chromosome and is therefore centromeric of c-ABL. The proximity of hLH-2 to the breakpoint on chromosome 9 raises the possibility of cis-activation by the t(9;22)(q34;q11) translocation. In addition to finding hLH-2 expression in all cases of CML, expression was observed in lymphoid malignancies and myeloid cell lines, but not in primary cases of acute myelogenous leukaemia. The role of hLH-2 in the development or progression of leukaemia is not known. However, hLH-2 may prove useful as a marker of CML for monitoring residual disease.
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PMID:Identification of a human LIM-Hox gene, hLH-2, aberrantly expressed in chronic myelogenous leukaemia and located on 9q33-34.1. 864 22


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