Gene expression profiling in childhood acute leukemia: progress and perspectives

Recent advances in treatment have transformed childhood acute leukemias into curable diseases. However, 20% to 40% of acute leukemia patients still experience a relapse. Microarrays typically contain thousands of oligonucleotides or complementary DNAs and are rapidly becoming important research tools for the identification of novel classifications of leukemias and lymphomas. Microarray-based identification of several translocations has been performed in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), leading to the discovery of t(1;19), t(12;21), and 11q23 translocations, and in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), finding t(8;21), inv(16), and t(15;17). Correlations between gene expression profiles and clinical features have been reported in ALL and AML. Recently, it was reported that gene expression profiling can be used to predict the prognosis of childhood acute leukemia. In this report, the recent progress in microarray analysis of childhood acute leukemia is reviewed. Gene expression profiling provides new insights into the biological mechanisms of leukemogenesis and the prognosis of childhood acute leukemia.