Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0019209 (hepatomegaly)
 5,798 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We used reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays to examine primary leukemic cells in on-study diagnostic bone marrow specimens from 642 children with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) for the expression of MLL-AF4, E2A-PBX1, and BCR-ABL fusion transcripts. All PCR assays were performed centrally in the Children's Cancer Group ALL Biology Reference Laboratory. MLL-AF4 transcript was found in only 0.7% of the study population which excluded infants. E2A-PBX1 transcript was found in 2.5% of the study population and 3.3% of B-precursor cases. Expression was associated with massive hepatomegaly. BCR-ABL transcript was found in 2.3% of cases and correlated with older age, induction failure, and inferior event-free survival (EFS). RT-PCR assays allow rapid identification of patients with MLL-AF4 and BCR-ABL positive ALL. These patients have a poor outcome with contemporary therapy and rapid identification facilitates timely allocation to innovative treatment programs.
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PMID:Expression of BCR-ABL, E2A-PBX1, and MLL-AF4 fusion transcripts in newly diagnosed children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a Children's Cancer Group initiative. 925 Jul 88