Detection and Biological Characteristic of FLT3 Gene Mutations in Children with Acute Leukemia

FLT3 ITD and D835 mutations occur in high frequency in AML and to a lower rate in ALL patients with poor prognosis. ITD and D835 mutations were studied in 100 diagnosed acute leukemia patients including 27 AML and 73 ALL with various FAB classifications by PCR and PCR-RFLP, respectively. Subsequently, PCR products of positive samples were confirmed by sequencing analyses. ITD mutations occurred in 10% of all pediatric acute leukemia, including AML and ALL. 25.9% of AML patients harbor a mutation in the ITD in various subtypes. The frequency of ITD mutations was 4% in ALL. Various insertions of nucleotides in ITD were observed, similar to those described in the literature previously. These preliminary data suggest that flt3-ITD mutations may play an important role in leukemogenesis in a proportion of children, particularly in the case of AML.