백혈병은 조혈모세포의 비정상적인 증식에 의해 일어나서 질환이고, adenosine deaminase (ADA) 유전자는 백혈병의 약물 작용점으로 중요하다. 이러한 연구의 일환으로 한국인 백혈병 환자 20명의 ADA 유전자의 변이를 조사하기 위해 혈액 genomice DNA를 추출하여 염기서열을 결정하였다. 그 결과 nonsense 변이인 F101F 하나, missense 변이 E260K, D8Y 각각 하나, 그리고 외국에서는 보고되지 않은 것으로 정상인에서 IVS6-52 에 GC가 도입된 것을 확인하였다. 백혈병 환자와 유전자 변이간에 통계학적인 차이점은 없지만 이러한 연구는 앞으로 백혈병의 진단 마크 개발에 도움이 될 것으로 사료된다.
Leukemia is the abnormal increase of hematopoietic progenitor cells in tissues, resulting in anemia, increased susceptibility to infection and impaired blood clotting. The adenosine deaminase (ADA) gene is an important druggable target for the treatment of leukemia patients. Genetic and molecular analyses were performed to determine the effects of ADA gene mutations in 20 leukemia patients in the Korean population. To analyze the relationship between genotype and phenotype, the ADA genomic DNAs - including 1,092 bp of 12 exons and partial intron sequences flanking each exon - were sequenced and compared. In this study, the known mutations in other diseases, more than 50 mutations already reported in patients with severe combined immunodeficiency disease (SCID) and autism, were not found, but two novel mutations in leukemia patients were discovered. They include one nonsense mutation (A>C at nt position 478, F101F) and one missense mutation (G>A at nt position 778, E260K). One missense mutation (G>A at nt position 22, D8Y) was also detected in 20 normal control patients (allelic frequency of 7.5%). Interestingly, subjects in the Korean population retained 2 bp insertion at the intron 6 (IVS6-52insGC), something that has never been shown in other populations. The genetic study to find out the correlation between the mutant alleles and leukemia patients revealed no association statistically (p>0.05). The mutation found in leukemia needs further study to determine its possibility as a molecular marker for the diagnosis of leukemia.
