1) Background:
@EN Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a highly sensitive method to detect minimal residual disease (MRD). Although leukemia-specific translocations are detected only in minority of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia(ALL), several
investigators
developed methods to detect MRD by PCR, based on preferential usage of specific genetic elements, the limited number of Vδand Jδelements of T cell receptor (TCR) delta gene, and assembled VH regions of immunoglobulin (Ig) gene containing
relatively
conserved base sequences.
@ES 2) Methods:
@EN We evaluated antigen receptor gene rearrangement patterns of leukemic cells from ALL patients by southern blot technique, as a baseline study for the detection of MRD using PCR.
@ES Results:
@EN Rearrangements of Ig heavy chain, TCR beta, gamma and delta chain gene were found in 68%, 68%, 64%, 98% of patients respectively. Southern analysis of HindIII digests with JδS16 probe showed Vδ1Jδ1 rearrangement in only 4cases.
@ES Conclusion: Heavy chain gene rearrangement is more suitable target for the application of PCR than TCR delta gene rearrangements for detection of MRD in ALL.
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