Detection of Common Chromosomal Translocations in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Sudanese children

Abstract

This study aims initially to introduce molecular technique, which are reliable and sensitive in detecting cells beyond the detection level of conventional cytomorphology, to be applied in the routine diagnosis of Leukemia in Sudan. And to detect roughly the frequency chromosomal aberrations in acute lymphoblastc leukemia in Sudanese children. RNA was extracted from leukemia patients’ blood, using Trizol method. Detection of leukemia specific markers (fusion gene) was carried after converting the RNA into cDNA, using specific primers for the fusions. We selected the five common fusion genes occur in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, the ABL-BCR both the p210 and p190, TEL-AML, E2A-PBX, and the MLL-AF4 fusion genes. To confirm the result Dot blot hybridization technique was done using BCR-ABL-p210 probe, which gave a strong signal with the BCR-ABL-p210 positive sample. The technique is shown to be easy to conduct, reliable and specific. Three fusion genes were detected, TEL-AML, E2A-PBX, ABL-BCR and their frequency was 36%, 4%, 4% respectively, and were detected at various stages of diagnosis and treatment in some patients. The identification of patients with positive fusion genes at remission, highlight the potential of using this technique for diagnosis of patients with minimum residual disease (MRD). In order to achieve well in leukemia treatment, and to maximum benefit of this technique, follow up of patients should be done according to the treatment Regimen and in good collaboration between the lab and clinic