Structural analysis of a carcinogen-induced genomic rearrangement event

T-cell receptor-gamma rearrangement and c-myb methylation in MNNG-exposed Bloom syndrome B-lymphoblastoid cells

The MNNG-exposed Bloom syndrome (BS) B-lymphoblastoid cell population (BS-MNNG), when analyzed for aberrant genetic variations, showed an illegitimate rearrangement at the TCR-gamma gene and hypermethylation at the c-myb protooncogene. The TCR-gamma rearrangement involved a Vgamma9 segment corresponding to a 4 kb band detected with a Jgamma-specific probe in HindIII-digested DNA samples from BS-MNNG cells only. These variations were not shown by unexposed BS cells or both MNNG-exposed and unexposed normal (GA3) B-lymphoblastoid cells.

Fusion genes resulting from alternative chromosomal translocations are overexpressed by gene-specific mechanisms in alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma

Chromosomal translocations identified in hematopoietic and solid tumors result in deregulated expression of protooncogenes or creation of chimeric proteins with tumorigenic potential. In the pediatric solid tumor alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, a consistent t(2;13)(q35;q14) or variant t(1;13)(p36;q14) translocation generates PAX3-FKHR or PAX7-FKHR fusion proteins, respectively. In this report, we demonstrate that in addition to functional alterations these translocations are associated with fusion product overexpression. Furthermore, PAX3-FKHR and PAX7-FKHR overexpression occurs by distinct mechanisms. Transcription of PAX3-FKHR is increased relative to wild-type PAX3 by a copy number-independent process. In contrast, PAX7-FKHR overexpression results from fusion gene amplification. Thus, gene-specific mechanisms were selected to overexpress PAX3-FKHR and PAX7-FKHR in alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, presumably due to differences in regulation between the wild-type loci. We postulate that these overexpression mechanisms ensure a critical level of gene product for the oncogenic effects of these fusions.