Prevalence of ETV6/RUNX1 Fusion Gene in Pediatric Patients with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Iran

OBJECTIVE: ETV6/RUNX1 (also known as TEL/AML(1)) is the most frequent gene fusion in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Sixty-three patients were enrolled in this study to explore the distribution of this gene in Iranian population. METHODS: This study used 63 peripheral blood and bone marrow (PB/BM) samples from children with ALL. Immunophenotyping of PB and BM samples were performed using flow cytometry to illustrate the lineage. Moreover, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique was used to amplify transcripts of leukemia-specific chromosome fusion gene ETV6/RUNX1 and to monitor the expression levels of the ETV6/RUNX1 in patients according to Van Dongen et al protocol. FINDINGS: On the basis of French-American-British (FAB) classification, 47 individuals had ALL-L1. The incidence of ETV6/RUNX1 fusion gene in this study was 34.9%. The laboratory and clinical features of twenty two ETV6/RUNX1 positive ALL cases were similar to those of other studies. The most positive cases of ETV6/RUNX1 fusion gene had the early pre B ALL and pre B ALL immunophenotypes. CONCLUSION: The ETV6/RUNX1 fusion gene is a common genetic anomaly in Iranian childhood ALL patients and the prevalence of the ETV6/RUNX1 fusion gene is similar to that of ALL patients in other countries. However early pre B cells were the most common type in studied patients.