Objective: To investigate the types of the immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) gene rearrangement and the co-existing clones in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
Methods: Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) were used to construct the IgH-PCR-SSCP gene fingerprinting.
Results: Of the 34 gene fingerprinting maps obtained from newly diagnosed ALL, 9 (32.14%) were one allelic rearrangement and 15 (53.75%) were biallelic in mono-clonal rearrangements. Four cases (14.29%) with high white cell count and precursor-B immunophenotype were oligoclonal rearrangements.
Conclusion: There were multiple IgH bi-allelic rearrangements and co-existing clones in childhood ALL.