B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Expressed Protein (BLACE)

By representational difference analysis of genes expressed in a cell line derived from a B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) carrying 2 Philadelphia chromosomes, Vialle-Castellano et al. (2004) cloned BLACE.

Northern blot analysis detected a diffuse signal with a main band of about 5.0 kb in the tumor cell line. RT-PCR detected BLACE expression in 11 of 17 ALL samples, but not in any other hematologic malignancies examined or in any other normal adult or fetal tissue examined.

Vialle-Castellano et al. (2004) determined that the BLACE gene contains 6 exons and spans at least 11 kb. By radiation hybrid analysis and FISH, Vialle-Castellano et al. (2004) mapped the BLACE gene to chromosome 7q36.