Genetic evaluation of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia in Iraq using FTA cards

Abstract

International collaboration via FTA cards may be helpful to improve diagnosis and management of patients with hematological malignancies in low-income and underdeveloped countries.

Analysis of KRAS and NRAS Gene Mutations in Arab Asian Children With Acute Leukemia: High Frequency of RAS Mutations in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

“…Diagnostically difficult cases were reviewed by an Italian team guided by Dr. Anna Maria Testi (Department of Cellular Biotechnologies and Hematology, University “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy) via telemedicine sessions . The diagnosis of ALL and AML was confirmed on initial unstained bone marrow (BM) aspiration smears that were transferred from Iraq and stained with May‐Grünwald‐Giemsa and myeloperoxidase at the Department of Pediatrics, Shinshu University School of Medicine . In Jordan, the diagnosis of ALL and AML was confirmed by flow cytometric analysis: CD10, CD19, CD20, CD22, and cytoplasmic CD79a were used for B‐precursor ALL; CD1a, CD2, CD3, CD4, CD5, CD7, CD8, cytoplasmic CD3, and TdT were used for T‐lineage ALL.…”

“…All included patients had Iraqi or Jordanian nationality backgrounds. A total of 318 patients with ALL consisted of 264 previously reported ALL cases from five pediatric oncology centers in Iraq: the Children's Welfare Teaching Hospital in Baghdad (a major referral center for childhood cancers in the country), Central Teaching Hospital for Children in Baghdad, Basra Children's Specialty Hospital in Basra, Ibn Al‐Atheer Hospital for Children in Mosul, and Nana‐Kali Hospital for Hemato‐Oncology in Erbil, and 54 patients from KHCC in Jordan. A total of 167 patients with AML consisted of 134 previously reported Iraqi AML cases and 33 from KHCC were evaluated .…”

“…As reported previously, a few drops of diagnostic BM aspirate or PB were applied to FTA classic card matrices (Cat. No.WB120205, GE Healthcare UK Ltd., Buckinghamshire, UK) at the enrolled hospitals in Iraq and Jordan.…”

Aberrant methylation of protocadherin 17 and its prognostic value in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia

“…Genomic DNA was extracted using the QIAamp DNA Blood Mini Kit (Qiagen, Chuo‐ku, Tokyo, Japan), followed by sodium bisulfite treatment using the EZ DNA Methylation Kit (Zymo Research, Irvine, CA, USA) as reported previously . PCR reaction was performed as described previously …”

“…The cDNA was used as a template for reverse‐transcriptase PCR (RT‐PCR) and quantitative real‐time PCR with primers and probes listed in Supplementary Table S2. RT‐PCR was performed as reported previously . Real‐time PCR was carried out in an ABI sequence detection system using the Master Mix (Applied Biosystems).…”