A novel MLL-AF10 fusion mRNA variant in a patient with acute myeloid leukemia detected by a new asymmetric reverse transcription PCR method

A novel variant of the chimerical MLL-AF10 mRNA transcript was detected in a pediatric patient with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) by a new asymmetric reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (ART-PCR) method. Sequence analysis of the fusion region on the amplified cDNA fragment showed an in-frame joining of exon e5 of the MLL gene and position 1931 of the cDNA sequence of the AF10 gene, giving rise to a new MLL-AF10 transcript. The presence of the new chimerical mRNA product in a sample from the patient was confirmed by classical RT-PCR.