Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:2.7.7.49 (reverse transcriptase)
 31,746 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Recent studies suggest that the BCR-ABL gene plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of Ph+ chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). We investigated the hematopoietic colonies derived from the marrows of 12 patients with Ph+ CML in chronic phase by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) amplification of BCR-ABL mRNA and by cytogenetics. Colonies were individually harvested and each colony divided into two portions, one for cytogenetics and the other for isolation of total RNA for PCR of BCR-ABL transcripts and for an RNA internal control. We found that 23% +/- 18% (mean +/- SD, range 0% to 60%) of Ph+ colonies did not transcribe the aberrant gene. In each case when BCR-ABL transcription was not detected, normal ABL mRNA was present. The data suggest that hitherto unknown mechanisms may regulate BCR-ABL expression in some Ph+ cells and indicate that caution should be exercised in the interpretation of results using RT-PCR analysis of hematopoietic colonies from clinical specimens and from experiments with antisense oligonucleotides directed at the BCR-ABL gene. These data also raise the notion of a transitional Ph+ precursor cell in which BCR-ABL may become upregulated and lead to a fully expressed phenotype. We conclude that further studies correlating the frequency of Ph+ PCR- progenitors with prognostic clinical variables are warranted.
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PMID:Variable transcription of BCR-ABL by Ph+ cells arising from hematopoietic progenitors in chronic myeloid leukemia. 794 97

Various kinds of nonrandom chromosomal aberrations have been reported in hematopoietic malignancies. Since the 1980s, many translocation-associated oncogenes and several suppressor oncogenes have been identified and applied for the clinical diagnosis of these malignancies. The former is of major, clinical importance for specific diagnosis made on the basis of molecular detection of the chromosomal translocation, the deregulated expression, and the chimeric mRNA of those genes. Both BCL-1 and BCL-2 genes, associated with mantle zone lymphoma and follicular lymphoma, respectively, belong to the representative deregulated oncogenes by juxtaposition with an immunoglobulin gene enhancer as well as an MYC gene in Burkitt's lymphoma. On the other hand, the MLL gene, associated with infant leukemia, acute monocytic leukemia and secondary leukemia, produces chimeric mRNAs between LTG4, 9, and 19 genes as well as the BCR-ABL chimeric gene in chronic myelogenous leukemia. The detection of minimal residual disease (MRD) by either polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR is becoming an essential test during the course of treatment containing bone marrow transplantation, because positive results of the MRD are closely related to poor prognosis and would have great influence on the choice of treatment plans.
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PMID:[Molecular diagnosis of leukemia and lymphoma]. 817 45

Chronic myeloid leukemias and 5% to 20% of acute lymphoid leukemias are characterized by the Philadelphia chromosome, a reciprocal chromosomal translocation, t(9;22)(q34;q11), generating BCR-ABL and ABL-BCR fusion genes. Cytogenetic studies have recently shown a preferential involvement of the paternally derived chromosome 9 and the maternally derived chromosome 22 in this translocation, indicating that imprinting might be involved in the formation or selection of the translocation. In this study, we have identified a BamHI polymorphism in the coding region of BCR exon 1, allowing us to investigate whether both BCR alleles are transcribed. By using a reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction assay, we show that both BCR alleles are expressed in the peripheral blood cells of normal individuals.
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PMID:No evidence for genomic imprinting of the human BCR gene. 820 71

The reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for BCR-ABL mRNA is increasingly used to diagnose and monitor patients with Ph+ chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). We investigated an alternative approach to detect BCR-ABL mRNA in CML in order to overcome some of the potential drawbacks of RT-PCR. Nucleic acid sequence based amplification (NASBA) is a homogeneous, isothermal, in vitro process that provides the direct amplification of RNA. Peripheral blood from seven patients with Ph+ CML and Ph+ EM-2 cells were investigated by NASBA and RT-PCR. A nested set of four primers flanking the BCR-ABL junction was used in two serial NASBA reactions performed for 2 hours. The two methods were fully concordant for detection of transcripts with bcr3-abl2 and bcr2-abl2 junctions. Ethidium bromide fluorescence with NASBA indicated in repeated experiments that similar quantities of total RNA from patient material contained different amounts of BCR-ABL mRNA. The data suggest that direct amplification of RNA is suitable for identifying and monitoring patients with Ph+ CML and may provide a means to quantify BCR-ABL mRNA levels.
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PMID:Detection and direct sequence identification of BCR-ABL mRNA in Ph+ chronic myeloid leukemia. 824 71

We have analyzed the M-bcr breakpoint position in 133 Philadelphia-positive chronic myeloid leukemia patients and correlated the findings with clinical, hematologic, and cytogenetic data. We also investigated the splicing pattern of the BCR-ABL mRNA in 30 patients, using reverse transcriptase PCR. No statistically significant differences were found between breakpoint position within M-bcr and clinical parameters at diagnosis, the karyotypic evolution pattern, or the leukemic phenotype during blast crisis. Furthermore, the breakpoint position within M-bcr did not correlate with the duration of chronic phase or survival time. When the splicing pattern of the BCR-ABL mRNA was compared with the results of the genomic breakpoint mapping, it was found that approximately 60% (8/14) of the patients with a 5' break expressed b2a2 fusion mRNA, whereas all patients (10/10) with a 3' break expressed b3a2 BCR-ABL mRNA.
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PMID:Clinical impact of breakpoint position within M-bcr in chronic myeloid leukemia. 835 Jun 22

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is characterized by an initial chronic phase of expanded yet orderly clonal hematopoiesis that is distinguished by the BCR-ABL gene rearrangement. We found that although the mature myeloid compartment in patients with CML was expanded and entirely derived from the dominant leukemic clone, the primitive hematopoietic progenitor compartment did not show a corresponding expansion and was substantially enriched for cells without the BCR-ABL gene rearrangement. More importantly, primitive progenitors exhibiting the BCR-ABL gene rearrangement did not express either the BCR-ABL hybrid mRNA or fusion protein (P210). Expression of P210 protein and BCR-ABL mRNA increased with myeloid commitment in vivo as well as with growth factor-induced proliferation and differentiation of the primitive CML progenitors in vitro. This differential expression of BCR-ABL between primitive and mature CML progenitors may explain the expansion of the leukemic clone at the level of mature myeloid progenitors and granulocytes without a concomitant expansion of primitive CML progenitors. Because BCR-ABL mRNA is minimally expressed or may be absent in primitive CML progenitors, these cells may escape detection by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and eradication by antisense oligonucleotides targeted against BCR-ABL mRNA.
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PMID:BCR-ABL gene rearrangement and expression of primitive hematopoietic progenitors in chronic myeloid leukemia. 849 29

Although the Philadelphia chromosome (Ph1) has been identified as an adverse prognostic factor in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), little is known about the incidence and clinical course of relapsed Ph1-positive ALL in children. The incidence was determined by screening of 170 consecutive children with first bone marrow relapse of ALL using the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and comparison, with cytogenetic analysis. Among these 170 children, 20 (12%) were found to be BCR-ABL-positive, representing a rate that is about three times higher than that reported for newly diagnosed ALL. Ten of the cases were identified by RT-PCR only. In none of the 21 patients with T-cell immunophenotypes could an expression of the BCR-ABL mRNA be detected. BCR-ABL positivity was associated with a significantly shorter duration of first remission (P = .0086) and higher white blood cell (P = .0157) and blast cell counts (P = .0304) at relapse diagnosis. All patients were treated according to the ALL-REZ BFM 87 and 90 relapse trials of the BFM Relapse Study Group. The intensive multiagent chemotherapy induced a second complete remission in only 60% of children with BCR-ABL-positive ALL compared with in 91% of those without BCR-ABL expression (P = .0023). The prognosis of BCR-ABL-positive ALL in children is poor, with a probability of event-free survival at 2 years of 8% versus 50% in those without BCR-ABL mRNA or cytogenetic analysis should become part of the routine diagnostic panel for children with newly diagnosed ALL and is fundamental for children presenting with an early bone marrow relapse.
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PMID:Clinical features and outcome of children with first marrow relapse of acute lymphoblastic leukemia expressing BCR-ABL fusion transcripts. BFM Relapse Study Group. 860 44

Interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) is useful in the treatment of Philadelphia (Ph)-positive chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML). There is, however, a marked heterogeneity among CML patients in relation to their response to IFN-alpha treatment, the reasons for which are unknown. Since the reciprocal ABL-BCR gene is transcriptionally active in only a proportion of CML patients, it has been suggested that response to IFN-alpha may correlate with ABL-BCR expression. In the present study we have tested 209 Ph-positive CML patients for expression of ABL-BCR, BCR-ABL and the normal BCR and ABL genes by reverse transcriptase/polymerase chain reaction (RT/PCR). Whereas BCR-ABL, BCR and ABL transcripts were detected in all the patients, ABL-BCR expression was observed in 59% of the cases. A group of 105 patients within this series was treated with IFN-alpha; 33% achieved a complete or major cytogenetic response (< 35% Ph-positive metaphases) and the remaining 67% showed minimal or no response to IFN-alpha. The proportions of patients who were ABL-BCR positive (63%) and ABL-BCR negative (37%) were the same for good responders and poor responders, suggesting that there is no correlation between ABL-BCR expression and cytogenetic response to IFN-alpha in CML.
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PMID:Lack of correlation between ABL-BCR expression and response to interferon-alpha in chronic myeloid leukaemia. 861 36

In Philadelphia chromosome (Ph1) positive leukemias, the BCR gene is fused to the ABL gene. The resulting chimeric BCR-ABL oncoproteins are thought to play a central role in the pathogenesis of these diseases. We previously described two exons that can be spliced alternatively to the second BCR exon in place of the first exon to form minor messages. In this paper, we localize the alternative exons to a 4.1 kb BglII fragment in the 5' region of the large first intron of the BCR gene. This genomic structure is of interest because of its analogy to the organization of the ABL gene and because this part of the gene is not affected by the breakpoints occurring in Ph1-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Using the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), we detected the alternative messages in all cases of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) tested, including seven samples in the chronic phase, five in the accelerated phase and nine in the acute phase, as well as in the majority of other samples studied. These findings suggest a functional role for the variant transcripts.
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PMID:The first intron of the BCR gene contains two minor alternative exons. 863 66

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


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