Abstract
Chromosome rearrangements of chromosome 11 at band 1 1q23 are detected in a high proportion of infant leukemias (<l yr) as well as childhood and adult acute leukemlas of both myelold and lymphold types. Molecular and cytogenetic analysis of these tumors has shown that 7–10% of acute lymphoblastic, and 5–6% of acute nonlymphocytic leukemias are involved in this way (1). Leukemias with rearrangements of band 1lq23 typically are CD l0, exhibit blphenotypic or mixed-lineage phenotype, and have a poor response to chemotherapy (2). The gene on chromosome 11 involved in the 1 lq23 rearrangement has been cloned recently (3, 4) and characterized. It is known as MLL (or ALL-1, HRX, HTRX), the gene encodes a 3969-amino acid polypeptide showing areas of homology to the Drosophila trithorax gene, a putative regulator of homeotic genes in segment determination (5). The MLL gene is large and complex, containing two DNA-binding domains consisting of three AT-hook motifs and two multiple zinc-finger domains, and thus has the characteristics of a transcription factor likely to be involved in the regulation of gene expression.
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References
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Further Reading
Blumberg, D. (1987) Creating a ribonuclease-free environment, in Methods in Enzymology (Berger, S. and Kmunel, A, eds.), Academic, London
Mamatis, T, Fritsch, E F, and Sambrook, J. (1982) Molecular Cloning. A Laboratory Manual Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, pp. 387–389
Krug, M. and Berger, S (eds) (1987). First strand cDNA synthesis primed with oligo dT, in Methods in Enzymology (Berger, S. and Kimmel, A., eds.), Academic, London.
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© 1996 Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ
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Pocock, C.F.E., Cotter, F.E. (1996). RT-PCR Analysis of Breakpoints Involving the MLL Gene Located at 11q23 in Acute Leukemia. In: Cotter, F.E. (eds) Molecular Diagnosis of Cancer. Methods in Molecular Medicine™, vol 6. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1385/0-89603-341-4:55
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/0-89603-341-4:55
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