RESUMEN
The precise diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia is essential for correct prognosis assessment and therapy regimen selection. At present, immunophenotyping, cytogenetics and molecular screening are major and complementary methods utilized in aâ¯routine leukemia diagnostics. The aim of this study was to validate the application of multiplex reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay for molecular diagnosis of the most common pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia-associated fusion transcripts. Our data show that screening of bone marrow and/or peripheral blood by RT-PCR, consisting of multiplex and monoplex PCR, confirmed results of real-time quantitative PCR (RT qPCR). This screening may provide aâ¯reliable, specific and sensitive method amenable to standard laboratory practice and aâ¯cost-effective alternative to more complex and expensive RT qPCR techniques.
