Detection of prognostic significant translocations in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia by one-step multiplex reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction

The search for chromosomal translocations in df novo cases of childhood acu te lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is crucial for the selection of the approp riate therapeutic protocol. In this work, we describe a new method - one-st ep multiplex reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) - to screen for prognostic significant translocations in childhood ALL. Our appr oach involves a single PCR reaction for the simultaneous detection of the m olecular rearrangements resulting from the t(9:22), t(12;21), t(4;11) and t (1;19), with a turnaround time of less than 24 h. This assay proved to be h ighly sensitive, specific, reproducible and easy to implement in a routine genetics laboratory.