Moreover, patients whose malignant cells carry IFN gene deletions or other defects in their IFN-producing capacity, but are still sensitive to exogenous IFN, could represent a subgroup of ALL with a greater likelihood of responding to IFN therapy.
Scanning densitometry and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis were used to study the alpha-, beta-, gamma-, and omega-interferon (IFN) genes in malignant cells from 11 children with acute lymphocytic leukemia and in one cell line of T-cell origin.
The results suggest that alpha IFN gene deletions may be rare events in null ALL of infants but their incidence and cellular consequences remain unknown.
Deletions of 9p21-22, that frequently include the alpha-, beta- and omega-IFN gene cluster, are common in malignant diseases such as acute lymphocytic leukemia, malignant melanoma and malignant glioma.
We conclude that deletion of alpha- and beta-IFN genes is a relatively common event in ALL and that RFLP analysis of the IFN genes may provide additional prognostic information in childhood ALL.