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SC Raimondi, CH Pui, FG Behm and DL Williams
Blast cell chromosomal rearrangements involving the long arm of chromosome
7 were identified in eight of 197 cases of childhood acute lymphoblastic
leukemia (ALL). Breakpoints were variable but tended to cluster in either
the proximal or the terminal 7q region, depending on the immunophenotype of
the cells. The 7q32-q36 region, the locus of the T cell receptor beta-chain
gene, was the site of breakpoints in four of 31 cases of T cell ALL but was
not involved in any of the 166 cases originating from B cell precursors (P
less than .0004). In three of the four T cell cases it was possible to
identify the chromosomal segment that had been translocated to the 7q32-q36
region: 1p32, 2p21, and 6p21. The 1p32 and 6p21 bands are particularly
interesting, as they contain the sites of two known protooncogenes, c-L-myc
and hpim, respectively. Our findings suggest that the locus of the
beta-chain gene of the T cell receptor is a preferential site for certain
chromosomal rearrangements in leukemic T lymphoblasts, analogous to the T
cell receptor alpha-chain gene on human chromosome 14. Translocation of
proto-oncogenes to a site near the beta-chain regulatory sequences provides
a potential mechanism for oncogene activation.
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| Copyright © 1987 by American Society of Hematology Online ISSN: 1528-0020 | |||||||||