Myeloid Leukemia

90 Branford and Hughes
6. When the qualitative nested PCR method is used to identify the p210 BCR-ABL
transcripts as outlined under Subheading 3.7., a PCR artifact may be visualized
on the agarose gel. In patients who have both the b2a2 and b3a2 BCR-ABL transcripts,
a fragment of approx 300 bp may be amplified in addition to the b2a2
fragment of 142 bp and the b3a2 fragment of 217 bp. Sequencing has revealed
that the 300-bp fragment is an unusual PCR artifact caused by recombination of
the sequences that share homology between the 217- and 142-bp fragments.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Dr Barney Rudzki, Rebecca Lawrence, and Chani Field
for assistance in the preparation of the manuscript.
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