The signal transducer and activator of transcription STAT5b gene is a new partner of retinoic acid receptor alpha in acute promyelocytic-like leukaemia
C. Arnould et al., The signal transducer and activator of transcription STAT5b gene is a new partner of retinoic acid receptor alpha in acute promyelocytic-like leukaemia, HUM MOL GEN, 8(9), 1999, pp. 1741-1749
Acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL) exhibits a characteristic t(15;17) tran
slocation that fuses the promyelocytic leukaemia (PML) gene on 15q22 to the
retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARA) gene on 17q12-q21.1. In a small subset
of acute promyelocytic-like leukaemias (APL-L), RARA is fused to a differe
nt partner: the promyelocytic leukaemia zinc finger (PLZF) gene on 11q23, t
he nucleophosmin (NPM) gene on 5q35 or the nuclear mitotic apparatus (NuMA)
gene on 11q13, We report on the molecular characterization of a RARA gene
rearrangement in a patient with APL-L and demonstrate that the signal trans
ducer and activator of transcription STAT5b gene is fused with RARA. STAT5b
belongs to the janus kinase (JAK)-STAT signalling pathway. Remarkably, the
STAT5b component of the chimeric protein is delocalized from the cytoplasm
to the nucleus, where it displays a microspeckled pattern. Therefore, unus
ual features of this APL-L might result from dysregulation of the JAK/STAT5
signal transducing pathways in the patient leukaemic cells. In this study,
we identified STAT5b as a new gene fused to RARA in leukaemia; this is the
first human tumour bearing a structurally abnormal STAT gene.