Transcriptome analysis of pediatric cALL versus normal tissue reveals a novel signature of the malignant phenotype

Differenzial gene expression profiling of pediatric common acute lymphoblastic leukemia (cALL) versus non-malignant tissues enables identification of aberrantly expressed genes in malignant cells, facilitating discrimination of leukemic from normal cells and possibly revealing specific disease mechanisms. Expression patterns of 29 pediatric cALL samples were analyzed by use of high-density DNA microarrays HG-U133A. Leukemic patients' bone marrow samples were compared to sorted B cells from cord blood of healthy donors expressing CD19 and CD10 surface antigens. Significance analysis of microarrays revealed 487 ge…