Characterization of a rarely reported STAT5B/RARA gene fusion in a young adult with newly diagnosed acute promyelocytic leukemia with resistance to ATRA therapy

Publication date: Available online 12 June 2019Source: Cancer GeneticsAuthor(s): Jess F. Peterson, Rui R. He, Hassan Nayer, Raymund S. Cuevo, James B. Smadbeck, George Vasmatzis, Patricia T. Greipp, Rhett P. Ketterling, Nicole L. Hoppman, Linda B. BaughnAbstractThe detection of PML/RARA or variant RARA rearrangements is critical for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with newly diagnosed acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). While most cases of APL harboring the PML/RARA fusion respond to all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), some variant RARA rearrangements are ATRA insensitive. Herein, we report a 27-year-old male with newly diagnosed, rapidly progressive APL and a rarely described STAT5B/RARA fusion with known resistance to ATRA therapy. While the PML/RARA dual-color dual-fusion fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) probe study was negative, the RARA break-apart probe study revealed an atypical RARA rearrangement in 95% of nuclei. A next generation sequencing assay, mate-pair sequencing, was subsequently performed to further characterize the RARA rearrangement and identified the RARA gene fusion partner STAT5B.
Source: Cancer Genetics - Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: research