{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,5]],"date-time":"2026-07-05T00:29:38Z","timestamp":1783211378901,"version":"3.54.6"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,9]],"date-time":"2025-10-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1759968000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Key Research and Development Program of Tianjin","award":["25YFKFYS00360"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["25YFKFYS00360"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n<jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Targeted Next-Generation Sequencing (tNGS) is commonly used to detect genetic mutations in patients with leukemia on DNA-level, necessitating additional methods to confirm genomic rearrangements and gene fusions, resulting in a substantial sample volume requirement and significant labor expenses.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n<jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>A novel custom leukemia tNGS panel, independently developed by Sino-US Diagnostics Lab, includes all exons from 302 genes closely associated with leukemia and 95 introns from 26 genes, thereby facilitating the detection of gene fusion alterations on DNA-level. Additionally, the common breakpoint regions of <jats:italic>IGH<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>MYC<\/jats:italic> are employed for the detection of <jats:italic>IGH<\/jats:italic> or <jats:italic>MYC<\/jats:italic> rearrangements. Commercial quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) reagents were used simultaneously to detect 45 gene fusions in RNA samples. A total of 357 adults diagnosed with leukemia were included in the study.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n<jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>The qRT-PCR method detected a total of 102 gene fusions, encompassing 23 distinct types. The tNGS method identified the same gene fusions on DNA-level in 98 samples, achieving a Positive Percent Agreement (PPA) of 96.1% (98\/102) when compared to the qRT-PCR method, and no false positive findings. Additionally, it revealed the presence of two gene fusions, <jats:italic>KMT2A<\/jats:italic>::<jats:italic>ELL<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>KMT2A<\/jats:italic>::<jats:italic>MLLT3<\/jats:italic>, which had gone undetected by qRT-PCR. The tNGS can also identify <jats:italic>IGH<\/jats:italic> or <jats:italic>MYC<\/jats:italic> gene rearrangements in patients with B-ALL, achieving a PPA of 93.8% (15\/16) when compared to the FISH. Moreover, tNGS can accurately identify the specific partner genes associated with these rearrangements, facilitating a more precise analysis of the impact of mutations on prognosis.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n<jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>This study confirms the feasibility of employing tNGS methods to concurrently identify gene mutations and fusions (including <jats:italic>IGH<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>MYC<\/jats:italic> rearrangements) at the DNA level in adults with leukemia.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0332407","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,9]],"date-time":"2025-10-09T17:37:35Z","timestamp":1760031455000},"page":"e0332407","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Detection of leukemia gene fusions on DNA-level through targeted Next-Generation Sequencing"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1822-9984","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Bin","family":"Chen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhihui","family":"Gao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Long","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hong","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yani","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jing","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0332407.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"839","DOI":"10.3389\/fonc.2019.00839","article-title":"Structural Variants as a Basis for Targeted Therapies in Hematological Malignancies","volume":"9","author":"J Sch\u00fctte","year":"2019","journal-title":"Front Oncol"},{"issue":"12","key":"pone.0332407.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1345","DOI":"10.1182\/blood.2022016867","article-title":"Diagnosis and management of AML in adults: 2022 recommendations from an international expert panel on behalf of the ELN","volume":"140","author":"H D\u00f6hner","year":"2022","journal-title":"Blood"},{"issue":"21","key":"pone.0332407.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2228","DOI":"10.1182\/blood.2022015853","article-title":"Genomic profiling for clinical decision making in myeloid neoplasms and acute leukemia","volume":"140","author":"EJ Duncavage","year":"2022","journal-title":"Blood"},{"issue":"11","key":"pone.0332407.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1200","DOI":"10.1182\/blood.2022015850","article-title":"International Consensus Classification of Myeloid Neoplasms and Acute Leukemias: integrating morphologic, clinical, and genomic data","volume":"140","author":"DA Arber","year":"2022","journal-title":"Blood"},{"issue":"7","key":"pone.0332407.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1703","DOI":"10.1038\/s41375-022-01613-1","article-title":"The 5th edition of the World Health Organization Classification of Haematolymphoid Tumours: Myeloid and Histiocytic\/Dendritic Neoplasms","volume":"36","author":"JD Khoury","year":"2022","journal-title":"Leukemia"},{"issue":"7","key":"pone.0332407.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1720","DOI":"10.1038\/s41375-022-01620-2","article-title":"The 5th edition of the World Health Organization Classification of Haematolymphoid Tumours: Lymphoid Neoplasms","volume":"36","author":"R Alaggio","year":"2022","journal-title":"Leukemia"},{"issue":"15","key":"pone.0332407.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2273","DOI":"10.1182\/blood.2021014309","article-title":"Guiding the global evolution of cytogenetic testing for hematologic malignancies","volume":"139","author":"YMN Akkari","year":"2022","journal-title":"Blood"},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0332407.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"915","DOI":"10.1309\/AJCPW10YBRMWSWYE","article-title":"Diagnostic yield of bone marrow and peripheral blood FISH panel testing in clinically suspected myelodysplastic syndromes and\/or acute myeloid leukemia: a prospective analysis of 433 cases","volume":"135","author":"JF Coleman","year":"2011","journal-title":"Am J Clin Pathol"},{"issue":"12","key":"pone.0332407.ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2291","DOI":"10.1080\/1042819021000040206","article-title":"Rapid screening of leukemia fusion transcripts in acute leukemia by real-time PCR","volume":"43","author":"K Osumi","year":"2002","journal-title":"Leuk Lymphoma"},{"issue":"13","key":"pone.0332407.ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2957","DOI":"10.1182\/bloodadvances.2022009179","article-title":"Classification and genetics of pediatric B-other acute lymphoblastic leukemia by targeted RNA sequencing","volume":"7","author":"NA Migita","year":"2023","journal-title":"Blood Adv"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0332407.ref011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"106","DOI":"10.1186\/s12920-020-00739-4","article-title":"Detection of leukemia gene fusions by targeted RNA-sequencing in routine diagnostics","volume":"13","author":"M Engvall","year":"2020","journal-title":"BMC Med Genomics"},{"key":"pone.0332407.ref012","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"43","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cancergen.2020.12.004","article-title":"RNA-Based next generation sequencing complements but does not replace fluorescence in situ hybridization studies for the classification of aggressive B-Cell lymphomas","author":"X Wang","year":"2021","journal-title":"Cancer Genet"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0332407.ref013","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"353","DOI":"10.1093\/ajcp\/aqz172","article-title":"Comparison Between Integrated Genomic DNA\/RNA Profiling and Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization in the Detection of MYC, BCL-2, and BCL-6 Gene Rearrangements in Large B-Cell Lymphomas","volume":"153","author":"DP Cassidy","year":"2020","journal-title":"Am J Clin Pathol"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0332407.ref014","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"166","DOI":"10.1186\/s13059-020-02076-2","article-title":"Dysregulation of cancer genes by recurrent intergenic fusions","volume":"21","author":"JW Yun","year":"2020","journal-title":"Genome Biol"},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0332407.ref015","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"703","DOI":"10.1038\/nm.4333","article-title":"Mutational landscape of metastatic cancer revealed from prospective clinical sequencing of 10,000 patients","volume":"23","author":"A Zehir","year":"2017","journal-title":"Nat Med"},{"issue":"364","key":"pone.0332407.ref016","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1126\/scitranslmed.aai8545","article-title":"Distinct biological subtypes and patterns of genome evolution in lymphoma revealed by circulating tumor DNA","volume":"8","author":"F Scherer","year":"2016","journal-title":"Sci Transl Med"},{"issue":"20","key":"pone.0332407.ref017","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2755","DOI":"10.1182\/bloodadvances.2018023572","article-title":"High-resolution architecture and partner genes of MYC rearrangements in lymphoma with DLBCL morphology","volume":"2","author":"LC Chong","year":"2018","journal-title":"Blood Adv"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0332407.ref018","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3361","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-021-23695-8","article-title":"Robust detection of translocations in lymphoma FFPE samples using targeted locus capture-based sequencing","volume":"12","author":"A Allahyar","year":"2021","journal-title":"Nat Commun"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0332407.ref019","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"579","DOI":"10.1016\/j.leukres.2007.08.017","article-title":"A multiplex PCR for improved detection of typical and atypical BCR-ABL fusion transcripts","volume":"32","author":"T Burmeister","year":"2008","journal-title":"Leuk Res"},{"issue":"12","key":"pone.0332407.ref020","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2318","DOI":"10.1038\/sj.leu.2403135","article-title":"Standardization and quality control studies of \u201creal-time\u201d quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction of fusion gene transcripts for residual disease detection in leukemia - a Europe Against Cancer program","volume":"17","author":"J Gabert","year":"2003","journal-title":"Leukemia"},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0332407.ref021","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"977","DOI":"10.1007\/s00277-018-3267-z","article-title":"Molecular characteristic of acute leukemias with t(16;21)\/FUS-ERG","volume":"97","author":"E Zerkalenkova","year":"2018","journal-title":"Ann Hematol"},{"issue":"7","key":"pone.0332407.ref022","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1713","DOI":"10.3324\/haematol.2023.283148","article-title":"TCF3::HLF acute lymphoblastic leukemia: still challenging to cure thirty years later","volume":"108","author":"SK Tasian","year":"2023","journal-title":"Haematologica"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0332407.ref023","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"533","DOI":"10.1111\/ijlh.14072","article-title":"TCF3 gene rearrangements in pediatric B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia-A single center experience","volume":"45","author":"E Zerkalenkova","year":"2023","journal-title":"Int J Lab Hematol"},{"issue":"7","key":"pone.0332407.ref024","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2662","DOI":"10.1158\/0008-5472.CAN-04-4263","article-title":"The t(8;9)(p22;p24) is a recurrent abnormality in chronic and acute leukemia that fuses PCM1 to JAK2","volume":"65","author":"A Reiter","year":"2005","journal-title":"Cancer Res"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0332407.ref025","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"988","DOI":"10.1038\/s41375-023-01877-1","article-title":"The KMT2A recombinome of acute leukemias in 2023","volume":"37","author":"C Meyer","year":"2023","journal-title":"Leukemia"},{"key":"pone.0332407.ref026","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"13331","DOI":"10.1038\/ncomms13331","article-title":"Genomic analyses identify recurrent MEF2D fusions in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia","volume":"7","author":"Z Gu","year":"2016","journal-title":"Nat Commun"},{"issue":"11","key":"pone.0332407.ref027","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1671","DOI":"10.1093\/hmg\/9.11.1671","article-title":"DNA structural properties of AF9 are similar to MLL and could act as recombination hot spots resulting in MLL\/AF9 translocations and leukemogenesis","volume":"9","author":"PL Strissel","year":"2000","journal-title":"Hum Mol Genet"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0332407.ref028","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"519","DOI":"10.3324\/haematol.11007","article-title":"Translocations and mutations involving the nucleophosmin (NPM1) gene in lymphomas and leukemias","volume":"92","author":"B Falini","year":"2007","journal-title":"Haematologica"},{"key":"pone.0332407.ref029","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1371980","DOI":"10.3389\/fonc.2024.1371980","article-title":"NUP214 fusion genes in acute leukemias: genetic characterization of rare cases","volume":"14","author":"M Brunetti","year":"2024","journal-title":"Front Oncol"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0332407.ref030","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"335","DOI":"10.3343\/alm.2023.0301","article-title":"NUP214 Rearrangements in Leukemia Patients: A Case Series From a Single Institution","volume":"44","author":"YJ Choi","year":"2024","journal-title":"Ann Lab Med"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0332407.ref031","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"81","DOI":"10.1038\/s41408-024-01066-y","article-title":"The landscape of NUP98 rearrangements clinical characteristics and treatment response from 1491 acute leukemia patients","volume":"14","author":"J Tian","year":"2024","journal-title":"Blood Cancer J"},{"issue":"9","key":"pone.0332407.ref032","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1860","DOI":"10.1038\/s41375-023-01958-1","article-title":"Myeloid\/lymphoid neoplasms with eosinophilia and tyrosine kinase gene fusions: reevaluation of the defining characteristics in a registry-based cohort","volume":"37","author":"G Metzgeroth","year":"2023","journal-title":"Leukemia"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0332407.ref033","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"129","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cancergencyto.2010.07.126","article-title":"Acute leukemia with PICALM-MLLT10 fusion gene: diagnostic and treatment struggle","volume":"202","author":"NM Savage","year":"2010","journal-title":"Cancer Genet Cytogenet"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0332407.ref034","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1012","DOI":"10.1038\/leu.2011.307","article-title":"CALM\/AF10-positive leukemias show upregulation of genes involved in chromatin assembly and DNA repair processes and of genes adjacent to the breakpoint at 10p12","volume":"26","author":"MA Mulaw","year":"2012","journal-title":"Leukemia"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0332407.ref035","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"118","DOI":"10.3324\/haematol.2016.151035","article-title":"ZNF384-related fusion genes define a subgroup of childhood B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia with a characteristic immunotype","volume":"102","author":"S Hirabayashi","year":"2017","journal-title":"Haematologica"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0332407.ref036","first-page":"119","article-title":"Detection of RBM15-MKL1 fusion was useful for diagnosis and monitoring of minimal residual disease in infant acute megakaryoblastic leukemia","volume":"68","author":"A Takeda","year":"2014","journal-title":"Acta Med Okayama"},{"issue":"23","key":"pone.0332407.ref037","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3390","DOI":"10.1093\/bioinformatics\/btu549","article-title":"FACTERA: a practical method for the discovery of genomic rearrangements at breakpoint resolution","volume":"30","author":"AM Newman","year":"2014","journal-title":"Bioinformatics"},{"issue":"8","key":"pone.0332407.ref038","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"843","DOI":"10.7150\/ijbs.24626","article-title":"GeneFuse: detection and visualization of target gene fusions from DNA sequencing data","volume":"14","author":"S Chen","year":"2018","journal-title":"Int J Biol Sci"},{"issue":"7","key":"pone.0332407.ref039","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1223","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jtho.2020.02.023","article-title":"Intergenic Breakpoints Identified by DNA Sequencing Confound Targetable Kinase Fusion Detection in NSCLC","volume":"15","author":"W Li","year":"2020","journal-title":"J Thorac Oncol"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0332407.ref040","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"320","DOI":"10.1016\/j.beha.2016.10.002","article-title":"A cryptic translocation leading to NUP98-PHF23 fusion in AML","volume":"29","author":"Y Ning","year":"2016","journal-title":"Best Pract Res Clin Haematol"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0332407.ref041","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1182\/blood-2015-11-683334","article-title":"Development and validation of a comprehensive genomic diagnostic tool for myeloid malignancies","volume":"128","author":"T McKerrell","year":"2016","journal-title":"Blood"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0332407.ref042","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"60","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jmoldx.2019.08.002","article-title":"A New Next-Generation Sequencing Strategy for the Simultaneous Analysis of Mutations and Chromosomal Rearrangements at DNA Level in Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patients","volume":"22","author":"MI Prieto-Conde","year":"2020","journal-title":"J Mol Diagn"},{"issue":"11","key":"pone.0332407.ref043","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1113","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jmoldx.2022.07.004","article-title":"Fusion Gene Detection and Quantification by Asymmetric Capture Sequencing (aCAP-Seq)","volume":"24","author":"G Gricourt","year":"2022","journal-title":"J Mol Diagn"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0332407.ref044","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"404","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jtho.2020.10.156","article-title":"Potential Unreliability of Uncommon ALK, ROS1, and RET Genomic Breakpoints in Predicting the Efficacy of Targeted Therapy in NSCLC","volume":"16","author":"W Li","year":"2021","journal-title":"J Thorac Oncol"},{"issue":"40","key":"pone.0332407.ref045","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5580","DOI":"10.1038\/sj.onc.1204640","article-title":"Mechanisms of chromosomal translocations in B cell lymphomas","volume":"20","author":"R K\u00fcppers","year":"2001","journal-title":"Oncogene"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0332407.ref046","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"293","DOI":"10.1002\/hon.2864","article-title":"Targeted locus amplification to detect molecular markers in mantle cell and follicular lymphoma","volume":"39","author":"E Genuardi","year":"2021","journal-title":"Hematol Oncol"},{"issue":"8","key":"pone.0332407.ref047","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"919","DOI":"10.1097\/PAS.0000000000002258","article-title":"Characteristics and Clinical Value of MYC , BCL2, and BCL6 Rearrangement Detected by Next-generation Sequencing in DLBCL","volume":"48","author":"Y Zeng","year":"2024","journal-title":"Am J Surg Pathol"}],"container-title":["PLOS One"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0332407","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,9]],"date-time":"2025-10-09T17:37:41Z","timestamp":1760031461000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0332407"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Hodaka","family":"Fujii","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"editor"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,9]]},"references-count":47,"journal-issue":{"issue":"10","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,9]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0332407","relation":{},"ISSN":["1932-6203"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1932-6203","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,9]]}}}