T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is associated with chromosomal aberrations characterized by juxtaposition of proto-oncogenes to T-cell receptor gene loci (TCR), resulting in the deregulated transcription of these proto-oncogenes. Here, we describe the molecular characterization of a novel chromosomal aberration, inv(14)(q11.2q32.31), in a T-ALL sample, involving the recently described BCL11B gene and the TCRD locus. The inversion joined the 5 0 part of BCL11B, including exons 1-3, to the TRDD3 gene segment of the TCRD locus, whereas the reciprocal breakpoint fused the TRDV1 gene segment to the fourth exon of BCL11B. The TRDV1-BCL11B joining region was 1344 bp long and contained fragments derived from 20q11.22, 3p21.33 and from 11p12, indicating the complex character of this aberration. A strong expression of inframe transcripts with truncated BCL11B and TCRD constant region (TRDC) were observed, but in contrast to normal T cells and other T-ALL samples, no wild-type BCL11B transcripts were detected in the T-ALL sample. Screening of 37 other T-ALLs revealed one additional case with expression of the BCL11B-TRDC fusion transcript. As BCL11B appears to play a key role in T-cell differentiation, BCL11B disruption and disturbed expression may contribute to the development of T-cell malignancies in man.

DNA fragments from eight different reading frames of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) were generated by PCR and subsequently cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli in fusion with glutathione S-transferase. The recombinant viral antigens were evaluated in immunoblot analyses. The most reactive antigens were purified and further evaluated in ELISAs. For this, sera from healthy blood donors and immunocompetent individuals with acute HCMV infection, and follow-up sera from transplant recipients with acute primary HCMV infection were used. The results of our experiments indicate that only three particular recombinant polypeptides from two viral proteins are necessary for serodiagnosis. While a fragment covering amino acids (aa) 495 to 691 of ppl50 (150/1) was the most suitable antigen for the identification of infected individuals in general, immunoglobulin M antibodies against the C-terminal parts of ppl50 (aa 862 to 1048; 150/7) and p52 (aa 297 to 433; 52/3) proved to be excellent serological markers to monitor acute HCMV infection. The selected recombinant antigens enable the improvement of serodiagnosis of HCMV-related diseases, especially during the early stages of infection.

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