Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most frequent leukemia in the Western world. TP53 gene is crucial for maintaining genome integrity. Gene defects due to deletion in chromosome 17 and / or variants within the TP53 gene are associated with increased resistance to chemoimmunotherapy and poor prognosis for the patient. Therefore, the inclusion of TP53 gene defects analysis in routine clinical diagnostics is important to improve patients care and optimize therapeutic decisions. Since 2012, the European Research Initiative on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (ERIC) has recommended the following methodological approaches for analyzing TP53 variants: high-resolution denaturation liquid chromatography, functional analysis of separate alleles in yeasts, microarrays, Sanger sequencing and next-generation sequencing (NGS). The latter due to improved sensitivity is currently the main method for detecting TP53 gene variants. The guidelines also dictate that Sanger sequencing should always confirm all detected variants.
We set up and verified the method of sequencing the TP53 gene by Sanger in patients with CLL. We followed ERIC recommendations, which dictates that the sequenced region of the TP53 gene must include exons 4–10, yet it is recommended to analyze the entire coding region (exons 2-11). To set up the method, we used five samples of patients in whom variants in the TP53 gene had not been previously detected by Sanger sequencing. In contrast, 12 samples with mutation in gene TP53 were used for the verification of the method. We optimized the entire analysis, from the oligonucleotides used for exons to the conditions of PCR programs for successful amplification and sequence analysis of exons 2-11 of the TP53 gene. Based on the sequencing data analysis, we concluded that all variants with variant allele frequency above 10 % can be confirmed by Sanger sequencing. The recommendations dictate that therapeutic decisions can only be made based on changes that can be confirmed by Sanger sequencing. The analysis was successfully introduced into regular clinical practice, where it will serve for standard diagnostics and to confirm variants detected by next-generation sequencing.
|