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CCAAT enhancer-binding protein (CEBP) transcription factors play pivotal roles in proliferation and differentiation, including suppression of myeloid leukemogenesis. Mutations of CEBPA are found in a subset of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and in some cases of familial AML. Here, using cytogenetics, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), and molecular cloning, we show that 5 CEBP gene family members are targeted by recurrent IGH chromosomal translocations in BCP-ALL. Ten patients with t(8;14)(q11;q32) involved CEBPD on chromosome 8, and 9 patients with t(14;19)(q32;q13) involved CEBPA, while a further patient involved CEBPG, located 71 kb telomeric of CEBPA in chromosome band 19q13; 4 patients with inv(14)(q11q32)/t(14;14)(q11;q32) involved CEBPE and 3 patients with t(14;20)(q32;q13) involved CEBPB. In 16 patients the translocation breakpoints were cloned using long-distance inverse-polymerase chain reaction (LDI-PCR). With the exception of CEBPD breakpoints, which were scattered within a 43-kb region centromeric of CEBPD, translocation breakpoints were clustered immediately 5' or 3' of the involved CEBP gene. Except in 1 patient with t(14;14)(q11;q32), the involved CEBP genes retained germ-line sequences. Quantitative reverse transcription (RT)-PCR showed overexpression of the translocated CEBP gene. Our findings implicate the CEBP gene family as novel oncogenes in BCP-ALL, and suggest opposing functions of CEBP dysregulation in myeloid and lymphoid leukemogenesis.

The hypothesis that acrylamide induces dominant lethal mutations and heritable translocations in male mice, not through direct adduction, but by conversion to the reactive epoxide, glycidamide, was investigated. Three studies, namely, induction of dominant lethal mutations, heritable translocations, and unscheduled DNA synthesis in spermatids, which were conducted earlier in this laboratory for acrylamide, were also performed for glycidamide to determine its mutagenic properties and to compare responses. Results of these studies are consistent with the proposal that in vivo conversion to glycidamide is responsible for the mutagenicity of acrylamide in male mice.

Reciprocal translocations are readily induced by various physical and chemical mutagens in certain germ-cell stages. Carriers of balanced reciprocal translocations generally exhibit no abnormal phenotypes, except for occasional male sterility, but about half (on average) of their progeny carry grossly unbalanced chromosome complements and die prenatally, so that the carriers are said to be 'semisterile'. Since death of such progeny generally occurs in very early embryonic stages, it would be of minor importance in an analogous human situation. Several types of unbalanced segregants, however, survive to late gestational or even to postnatal stages and are often malformed. Recently, it was determined in this laboratory that over one half of the male carriers of methylene-bisacrylamide-induced translocations, sired litters that had late-dying and/or malformed fetuses (Rutledge et al., 1990). Five high-anomaly translocation stocks derived from that study and four derived from studies with other mutagens were analyzed cytogenetically to determine (1) the chromosomes and breakpoints involved, (2) the nature of chromosome imbalance in malformed fetuses, and (3) the types of meiotic segregation that produce late-surviving unbalanced segregants. Cytogenetic analysis of the 9 translocation stocks revealed 18 breakpoints located in 12 chromosomes. Each translocation had at least one breakpoint located near the centromere or the telomere. All translocations produced abnormal fetuses that were partially monosomic for a very short terminal chromosome segment, and partially trisomic for a segment that can be of various lengths, 2-10 times as long as the monosomic segment. In 6 stocks, these abnormal fetuses arose by adjacent-1 or alternate segregation; in the other three they arose by adjacent-2 segregation. In addition, tertiary trisomy by 3-1 missegregation was also observed in two of the stocks.

N,N'-Methylenebisacrylamide (MBA), a dimer of the monomeric acrylamide, was studied for induction of clastogenic effects in germ cells of male mice. It was found to be effective in inducing dominant-lethal mutations and heritable translocations in maturing sperm. The semisterile translocation carriers and their normal counterparts were used to determine the health impact of transmitted chromosomal rearrangements through anatomical analysis of their immediate descendants in utero. As expected, semisterility resulted primarily from embryonic death during the periimplantation stages presumably caused by sperm segregants with unbalanced chromosome complement fertilizing some of the eggs. Among conceptuses that survived to mid- and late-gestation stages, there was an increased incidence of developmental anomalies including fetal death and phenotypic defects. These anomalies are assumed to be caused by certain types of unbalanced segregants that are compatible with survival beyond the periimplantation period. This class of unbalanced segregants represent in humans a major health problem to the mother and her conceptus.

Male mice were subjected to repeated inhalation exposures to different concentrations (165, 204, 250, or 300 ppm) of ethylene oxide (EtO) during an 8.5-week period. Transmitted clastogenic effects of these exposures were measured in terms of induction of dominant lethal mutations and heritable translocations. The concentration-response curves for both endpoints are not linear but are markedly concave upward. Significant increases in dominant lethals were detected at all concentrations, except the lowest one. In comparison, the incidences of heritable translocations were significantly increased at all concentrations.

Although heritable translocations are an important endpoint for the assessment of genetic risk from radiation, there has been a serious information gap with regard to their induction in spermatogonial stem cells, the most important cell stage in males for risk considerations. This led to uncertainty in estimating the magnitude of risk per unit exposure. Further, the relationship between the frequency of reciprocal exchanges scored by cytological analysis of the exposed male's meiocytes and the frequency of those transmitted to first-generation offspring needed to be re-examined. In order to fill in these gaps, two radiation studies, i.e., dose response and dose fractionation, were conducted on spermatogonial stem cells in which heritable and cytologically detected translocations were scored. The present data are by far the most extensive, to date, for heritable translocation induction in spermatogonial stem cells. The linearity of the rising portion of the dose-effect curve and the additivity of effects observed in the fractionation study allow a direct estimation of the number of transmissible translocations expected per unit exposure. Thus, the expected increase in heritable translocations per rad of acute X-rays is 3.89 X 10(-5) per gamete. The data also show a lack of consistency between cytologically and genetically scored translocations.

Ethylene oxide was studied for induction of dominant-lethal mutations and heritable translocations in male mice. The chemical was prepared in water and injected intraperitoneally. The dominant-lethal study was conducted using a single injection of 150 mg/kg (maximum tolerated dose); in the heritable translocation study males were injected daily on weekdays for 5 weeks with 60 or 30 mg/kg dose per day. Results clearly showed that ethylene oxide is effective in inducing dominant-lethal mutations and that the 4 stocks of untreated females used do not differ or may differ only slightly in the ability of their eggs to repair ethylene oxide-induced lesions in male germ cells. Increases in the frequencies of heritable translocations were also observed at the 2-dose levels. These frequencies did not deviate significantly from those expected on the basis of dose-square kinetics.

This study was conducted to estimate the frequency of transmitted reciprocal translocations per rad of exposure to alpha particles from [239Pu]citrate. Data indicate that the rate of induction of heritable translocations is related linearly to the duration of spermatogonia stem cell exposure. The estimated increase in heritable translocations per rad of exposure of the stem cell to alpha particles is in the range of 1.45-2.91 X 10(-5)/gamete.

The relative induction of dominant-lethal mutations and heritable translocations in triethylenemelamine-treated postmeiotic germ cells of mice was determined depending on the stage treated. Males were mated either 11.5-14.5 days after treatment (middle spermatids) or less than 2.5 hours after treatment (fully mature sperm). Results clearly showed that, even through similar levels of dominant-lethal mutations were induced in fully mature sperm and in middle spermatids, the frequency of heritable translocations induced in mature sperm was markedly lower than that induced in middle spermatids. This observation was used, together with earlier ones, to suggest a mechanism by which dominant-lethal mutations and heritable translocations are produced following chemical treatment of male postmeiotic germ cels.

Calcium cyclamate, an artificial sweetener, was studied for its effectiveness in inducing transmissible chromosomal aberrations in germ cells of male mice. Both the dominant-lethal and the heritable translocation tests were carried out following daily treatment (on weekdays) of males by oral intubation with the maximum tolerated dose for 6 weeks. Calcium cyclamate is negative in both tests; therefore, there is no evidence of induced chromosome breakage and exchange.

There is a close relationship between the rates at which dominant lethal mutations and heritable translocations are induced by ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) or triethylenemelamine (TEM) in male postmeiotic germ cells. This relationship does not hold for isopropyl methanesulfonate (IMS), which induced only negligible frequencies of heritable translocations at doses that induced high levels of dominant lethal mutations. Nor does IMS behave like EMS and TEM in the degree to which eggs of different stocks of females repair premutational lesions that are carried in the sperm-large differences between stocks for IMS treatment and small differences for EMS or TEM treatment. These dissimilarities between IMS and the other two alkylating chemicals are postulated to be attributable to differences in the types of lesions present at the time of repair activity and to whether or not chromosomal aberrations are already fixed prior to postfertilization pronuclear DNA synthesis.

Benzo[a]pyrene was tested for induction of dominant-lethal mutations in germ cells of male mice. Clear-cut dominant-lethal effects were induced in middle and early spermatozoa. In contrast to the dominant-lethal observed the study showed no detectable increase in heritable translocations for these stages over the spontaneous level. Thus, the results provide another example of a chemical mutagen that is effective in inducing dominant-lethal mutations but relatively ineffective in inducing heritable translocations in male postmeiotic germ cells.

Acrylamide (AA), known to induce dominant lethals in male rodents, was studied in the mouse heritable translocation test by using intraperitoneal injections on 5 consecutive days. Matings on days 7-10 following the last injection yielded a high frequency of translocation carriers in the F1 male population, which demonstrated that acrylamide is an effective inducer of translocations in postmeiotic germ cells. As an inducer of both dominant lethals and heritable translocations in late spermatids and early spermatozoa, AA is similar to alkylating agents such as ethylmethanesulfonate and ethylene oxide. However, AA's chemical structure, the nature of adducts formed with DNA, and it lack of mutagenicity in bacteria suggest a different mechanism as the basis for AA's germ cell mutagenicity.

An accurate estimate of the error of misclassifying male translocation heterozygotes as normals is essential for the proper evaluation of results of the heritable translocation test in mice. The size of this error may vary from one laboratory to another depending, primarily, on the method or variation of the method used in screening for translocation heterozygotes. This report shows a way to estimate for misclassification errors involved in two methods, sequential and direct cytological analysis, of screening for translocation heterozygotes. A positive correlation was found between the degree of partial sterility of a male and the frequency of cells with multivalent configurations among his diakinesis-metaphase I cells. We interpreted this to confirm that the length of translocated chromosome segments has some influence on the proportion of unbalanced gametes in the ejaculate, presumably reflecting the frequency with which adjacent-1 and adjacent-1 segregations and 3-1 misdivisions occur.

A semisterile male translocation heterozygote [t(2; 14) 1Gso] that exhibited neurological symptoms and an inability to swim (diver) was found among the offspring of male mice treated with triethylenemelamine. All breeding and cytogenetic data showed a complete concordance between translocation heterozygosity and the neurological disorders. Homozygosity for the translocation seemed to be lethal at an early embryonic stage. Despite the distinctive neurologic symptoms, no anatomic or histological defects in either the ear or in the central nervous system were observed. Thus, a balanced chromosomal translocation can produce disease with an inheritance pattern that mimics a single dominant gene defect.