Molecular analysis of TCRB and ABL in a t(7;9)-containing cell line (SUP-T3) from a human T-cell leukemia.

A translocation between chromosomes 7 and 9, t(7;9), has been described in cell lines derived from the malignant cells of children with acute T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia or lymphoma. Our cytogenetic analysis of one such cell line, SUP-T3, demonstrates that the breakpoints on chromosomes 7 and 9 lie within bands q36 and q34, respectively, corresponding to the location of the gene encoding the beta chain of the T-cell receptor, TCRB, and the gene homologous to the transforming gene of the Abelson murine leukemia virus, ABL. We investigated the role of these genes in the t(7;9). In situ chromosomal hybridization of TCRB and ABL probes to metaphase cells from SUP-T3 demonstrated that ABL is translocated from chromosome 9 to 7 and that all or part of TCRB is translocated from chromosome 7 to 9. Southern blot analysis revealed that both TCRB alleles were rearranged; however, it could not be determined whether the translocation breakpoint lies within this gene. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and Southern blot analysis were used to examine more than 500 kilobases of the ABL locus; we concluded that there are no rearrangements within 250 kb in either direction of the sequences homologous to v-abl. Additionally, no abnormal ABL protein was detected in an in vitro phosphorylation assay. These results indicate that, in SUP-T3, the breakpoint on chromosome 9 lies proximal to ABL and that the break results in no apparent alteration of the ABL protein. We therefore hypothesize that another gene on chromosome 9, at band q34, plays a role in this translocation. This study also demonstrates that pulsed-field gel electrophoresis is a powerful new tool for the analysis of human chromosomal translocations.