| Budget Amount *help |
¥1,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,900,000)
Fiscal Year 1988: ¥300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥300,000)
Fiscal Year 1987: ¥1,600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000)
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| Research Abstract |
More precise identification of the cell lineage of given malignant cells and determination of the different stages of development within that lineage may ultimately be important for achieving more specific and effective treatment. Therefore we have studied the phenotypes and genotypes of childhood leukemia/lymphoma cells by using a panel of monoclonal antibodies and Southern blot analysis. On the basis of phenotypic and cytochemical analysis, 105 cases were initially divided into B-lineage (57), T-lineage (16), myeloid-lineage (15), and undifferentiated (AUL, 17). However, 2 out of the 57 B-lineage leukemia, and 2 out of the 16 T-lineage leukemia showed a germline configuration of the immunoglobulin (Ig) gene and the T-cell receptor(TCR) gene, respectively. Nearly half of the B-lineage leukemia also demonstrated TCR and/or genes, which is called as dual rearrangements. To further clarify the cell lineage of the dual rearrangements, we looked at transcripts of the TCR gene in B-lineage leukemia with TCR gene rearrangements. Contrary to Tlineage leukemia cells in which full-length transcripts of the TCR gene were observed, only low levels of truncated TCR transcripts were detected. We next asked whether developmental hierarchy among TCR genes ( , , , ) rearrangements exists or not. We analyzed the rearrangement and expression of TCR genes and found that rearrangements of the TCR gene may be the earliest event in T cell differentiation, preceding rearrangements of the other TCR genes. Similarly, we analyzed 11 cases of AUL, and found that 6 out of 11 cases did show rearrangements of IgH and TCR genes, and the remaining 5 cases revealed a germline configuration of these rearranging genes. Thus, AUL can be further divided into two subgroups, and this may result in different prognosis.
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