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Extra Chromosomes In Childhood Leukemia Show Pattern ...
A new study, sponsored by the Children's Oncology Group and was published online in the journal Genes, Chromosomes and Cancer, .into childhood leukemia shows that the extra number of specific chromosomes that are present in the offending cells form a predictable pattern.
The study was based on children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
These leukemia cells can have 80 or more chromosomes. Chromosomes carry the
genes in all cells, which normally have 46 chromosomes.
The study also showed that the number of chromosomes in the diseased cells
predicts which chromosomes are present as extras in particular patients. Researchers
believe that these findings may help improve their understanding of the early
events that cause ALL.
Researchers are now trying to discover how the abnormal distribution of chromosomes
occurs during the initial cell division. It is hoped that this will help explain
why children with leukemia cells that have 51 plus chromosomes seem to respond
better to treatment that those with 50 or fewer chromosomes.
"The fact that an excess of certain chromosomes is associated with the particular
overall number of chromosomes tells us that something significant happens when
that first abnormal cell divides and initiates this disease," says first
author Nyla A. Heerema, professor of pathology at the Ohio State University Medical
Center.
"We don't yet know what that might be, but this provocative finding may
direct us toward an answer," says Heerema, who is also a researcher with
Ohio State's Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Overall, Heerema says, "Our results indicate that the total number of chromosomes
can predict which chromosomes are present as extras in these cases of ALL. Next,
we need to learn why this pattern occurs and whether it can help guide decisions
about therapy."
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