Primers and protocols for standardized detection of minimal residual disease in acute lymphoblastic leukemia using immunoglobulin and T cell receptor gene rearrangements and TAL1 deletions as PCR targets: report of the BIOMED-1 CONCERTED ACTION: investigation of minimal residual disease in acute leukemia.
Our Southern blot analyses of a large series of 313 acute leukemias with a specific tal-1 deletion probe (SILDB) demonstrated that tal-1 deletions exclusively occur in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) and not in precursor B-ALL or acute non-lymphocytic leukemias.
A second specific deletion termed tald2 was observed in another 6% of T-ALL patients; it involves another site within tal-1 plus the same site as tald1 in the SIL locus.