Clinical utility of array comparative genomic hybridization for detection of chromosomal abnormalities in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Background: Accurate detection of recurrent chromosomal abnormalities is critical to assign patients to risk-based therapeutic regimens for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

Procedure: We investigated the utility of array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) for detection of chromosomal abnormalities compared to standard clinical evaluation with karyotype and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). Fifty pediatric ALL diagnostic bone marrows were analyzed by bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) array and findings compared to standard clinical evaluation.

C/EBPbeta suppression by interruption of CUGBP1 resulting from a complex rearrangement of MLL.

Translocations involving the mixed-lineage leukemia gene (MLL) confer a poor prognosis in acute leukemias. In t(1;11)(q21;q23), MLL is fused reciprocally with AF1q. Here we describe a t(1;11)(q21;q23) with a secondary event involving insertion of the telomeric portion of MLL into the p arm of chromosome 11 (11p11).