The relationship between APL subtypes and chromosome t(15; 17)or PML-RARa fusion gene

Abstract

Objective To investigate the relationship between the subtypes of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) and expression of chromosome translocationt(15; 17)or fusion gene of PML-RARa. Methods Fifty-five APL patients were studied in the research.APL subtypes were determined according to FAB classification.Conventional karyotype analysis was performed to study chromosome translocation t(15; 17) and fluorescent in situ hybridization(FISH)was employed to detect PML-RARa fusion gene. Results APL patients were classified into three subtpyes: M3a, M3b and M3c.The occurrence of t(15; 17) and PML-RARa fusion gene were 82.61% (19/23)and 95.65%(22/23)in M3a, 82.35%(14/17)and 94.12%(16/17)in M3b, 80.00%(12/15)and 100.0%(15/15)in M3c respectively(χ2=0.046, P>0.05; χ2 =0.844, P>0.05). The expression of t(15; 17) and PML-RARa fusion gene were 81.82%(45/55)and 96.36%(53/55) respectively (χ2=6.476, P<0.05). Conclusions There are no statistic differences between the the APL subtypes and expression of chromosome translocation t(15; 17)or PML-RARa fusion gene.FISH may be a more sensitive technique than conventional karyotype analysis. Key words: Leukemia, promyelocytic, acute; In situ hybridization, fluorescent; PML-RARa fusion gene