DETECTION OF DELETIONS AND ALTERATIONS OF TUMOR SUPPRESSOR GENE "pl6" IN ACUTE LEUKEMIA AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH ADVERSE PROGNOSTIC FEATURES '

Abstract

Acute leukemias include a broad heterogeneous group of malignant disorders arising from hematopoietic cell precursors. Clinical presentation, laboratory features, response to therapy, and prognosis greatly differ between the various fonns. Thus there is a need to recognize homogeneous subgroups to improve our understanding of the biology of the disease and to facilitate a comparison between clinical trials. These premises led to the fonnulation of a proposed classification of acute leukemias by the French-American-British (FAB) Cooperative • group. According to FAB criteria the examination ofB.M. smears is necessary and sufficient to make a diagnosis of acute leukemia. This is establish when at least 30% of either total nucleated or nonerythroid cells in the B.M. are blasts or when the morphologic features of acute promyelocytic leukemia are present.

The cell cycle is the regulated process by which the cell ensured that each round of DNA replication (S phase) is followed by cell division (mitosis), with the production of two • identical daughter cells, each bearing a diploid complement of chromosomes.