Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) is the most common malignancy of childhood. Recurrent chromosome translocations in childhood leukemia are useful cytogenetic markers for diagnosis, prognosis and treatment monitoring. For example, the presence of certain specific translocations, including t(1 ;19), t(9;22) and others defines a group of ALL patients who are at a higher risk of treatment failure. Other abnormalities, including t(12;21), are associated with a group of ALL patients who are at a low risk of treatment failure. Therefore, identification of these abnormalities at the time of diagnosis is essential if appropriate therapy is to be given. We present a novel technology that will allow efficient detection of multiple fusion transcripts at a time. The method could also be used to quantitatively study the expression level of the fusion transcript. Develop such a test kit, therefore, could dramatically improve diagnosis. prognosis and treatment of childhood ALL. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: Molecular diagnostic kits can be developed based on the proposed research. The kit can provide fast, accurate, sensitive, and quantitative diagnosis of leukemia specific chromosome translocations. Further more, a 96 well ELISA plate formated test could detect as many as 16 common translocations.
