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PML/RARα fusion gene is expressed in both granuloid/macrophage and erythroid colonies in acute promyelocytic leukaemia
Author(s) -
Takatsuki Hiroshi,
Sadamura Shingo,
Umemura Tsukuru,
Abe Yasunobu,
Goto Tatsuro,
Yufu Yuji,
Katsuno Makoto,
Hirata Jouji,
Nishimura Junji,
Nawata Hajime
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
british journal of haematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.907
H-Index - 186
eISSN - 1365-2141
pISSN - 0007-1048
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2141.1993.tb03335.x
Subject(s) - biology , microbiology and biotechnology , promyelocytic leukemia protein , fusion gene , chromosomal translocation , gene , progenitor cell , rna splicing , complementary dna , stem cell , gene expression , alpha (finance) , alternative splicing , messenger rna , acute promyelocytic leukemia , genetics , retinoic acid , rna , medicine , construct validity , nursing , patient satisfaction
Summary. Acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL) associated with a t(15:17) translocation generates a PML/KARa chimaeric gene which is transcribed as a fusion PML/RARα mRNA. To clarify the pathophysiologic role of PML/RARα in APL patients, we examined the expression of PML/RAKα in haemopoietic colonies in five patients with APIA by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) analysis. By the two‐step RT‐PCR method, we demonstrated that PML/ RARα positive clones were present in progenitor cells including both CFU‐GM'and BFU‐E in two cases. This result suggests that the translocation of PML/RARα occurred in a pluripotent stem cell in some APL patients. In four patients we detected two amplified cDNA fragments of 780 and 640 bp which presumably arose by alternative splicing of the PML gene. Interestingly of CFU‐GM and BFU‐E colonies examined in four patients, there were three different types of colonies: those expressing only the 780 bp fragment, those expressing only the 640 bp fragment, and those expressing both fragments. This suggests that alternative splicing was clonally determined in each colony. We describe a useful RT‐PCR technique for the study of gene expression in a limited number of haemopoietic precursor cells.