Elevated expression of a subset of interferon inducible genes in primary bone marrow cells expressing p185 Bcr-Abl versus p210 Bcr-Abl by DNA microarray analysis

p185 Bcr-Abl has a more aggressive biological/clinical leukemia phenotype than p210 Bcr-Abl. In this study, we examined differential gene expression using microarrays to determine if Upregulation or downregulation of specific genes may explain the distinct phenotypes produced by the two Bcr-Abl forms. RNA was collected from mouse bone marrow mononuclear cells expressing equivalent levels of p 185 or p210, and the RNAs were subjected to microarray analysis. significant differences in gene expression were observed on hierarchical clustering. A group of interferon-gamma-inducible genes, including those encoding a family of 47 kDa GTPases, were significantly increased in p185 versus p210. This family of GTPases has previously been implicated in interferon-gamma-induced resistance against intracellular pathogens, however their exact cellular functions are unknown. Our data Suggest that their increased expression may contribute to the biological/clinical phenotype associated with p185. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.