Expression of TEL-AML1 and E2A-PBX1 by real-time PCR in pediatric ALL in Baghdad

Background: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a heterogeneous disease that has multiple genetic subtypes with different prognostic significance. Aim of study: To study the expression of TEL-AML1 and E2A-PBX1 fusion genes in Iraqi pediatric ALL patients. Patients, materials and methods: A prospective case-control study was conducted using RTqPCR to study the expression of TEL-AML1 and E2A-PBX1 fusion genes in bone marrow aspirates of 48 pre-treated ALL patients and 46 control subjects. These aspirates were collected from The Children’s Welfare Teaching Hospital in Baghdad from July 2013 to June 2014. Results: 21/48 ALL patients were males and 27/48 were females. Age ranged from 2 months to 13 years with a median age of 5 years. Twenty six of these patients were aged between 1-5 years. Molecular screening detected TEL-AML1 transcript in 20.8% of ALL patients whereas E2A-PBX1 transcript was detected in 16.7% of those patients. Conclusion: The molecular prevalence of TEL-AML1 and E2A-PBX1 fusion genes in Iraqi children with ALL parallels previous reports worldwide.