Genetic changes in USP7 (germline variants or somatic mutations) were observed in 56.4% of T-ALL with TAL1 overexpression, statistically significantly higher than in any other subtypes.
The repeatedly detected association of SLX4IP deletion with male sex and the extension of the sex bias to deletion of the TAL1 locus suggest that differential illegitimate V(D)J-mediated recombination events at specific loci may contribute to the consistent observation of higher incidence rates of childhood ALL in boys compared with girls.
A total of 54 primers was developed (1) to amplify rearrangements of the TCRD, TCRG, and IGK (Kde) genes as well as TAL1 deletions; (2) to sequence the junctional regions and breakpoint fusion regions; and (3) to perform MRD detection in bone marrow or peripheral blood samples during follow-up of ALL patients.
We next examined GATA-1, GATA-2, and SCL gene expression in 110 leukemia samples obtained from 76 patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), 19 with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and 15 with chronic myeloid leukemia in blast crisis (CML-BC).
Maximal specificity is presumably achieved when the DNA sequences amplified are truly leukaemia-specific, such as BCR/ABL in chronic myelogenous leukemia, RARA PML/RARA in t(15;17) acute myelogenous leukemia, DEK/CAN in t(6;9) AML, PBX1/E2A in t(1;19) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), or TAL-1 deletions in other T-ALLs.