tal-1 deletions are caused by a site specific recombination, which exclusively occurs in 12-26% of T-cell acute lymphoblastic
leukemias (
T-ALL). In a previous study on a large series of
T-ALL we demonstrated an apparent preferential occurrence of tal-1 deletions in CD3- and CD3+ alpha beta lineage
T-ALL with TcR-delta gene deletions on one or both alleles. In the present study we investigated whether accessibility of the tal-1 deletion breakpoint regions influences the preferential occurrence in specific
T-ALL subgroups. Because DNA methylation is assumed to determine accessibility of
DNA for recombination, the methylation status of the tal-1 deletion type 1 breakpoint regions (sildb and taldb1) was studied. Although the sildb were completely demethylated in all
T-ALL, preferential (de)methylation configurations of the taldb1 were observed in the analysed 119
T-ALL. Most
TcR-alpha beta +
T-ALL contained completely demethylated taldb1 (77%), whereas in most
TcR-gamma delta +
T-ALL partial or complete methylation occurred (42% and 47%, respectively). In
T-ALL subgroups defined by different TcR-delta gene configurations also preferential taldb1 (de)methylation patterns were seen, which was most prominent in
T-ALL with both TcR-delta genes deleted (84% complete demethylation). The previously observed preferential occurrence of tal-1 deletion type 1 in
TcR-alpha beta + vs CD3-
T-ALL and in
T-ALL with both vs one TcR-delta genes deleted, disappeared when we retricted to
T-ALL with completely demethylated taldb1. Moreover, all
T-ALL with a tal-1 deletion type 1 (n = 15) contained completely demethylated taldb1. We therefore conclude that complete demethylation of taldb1 is a prerequisite for tal-1 deletions type 1 and that the differences in tal-1 deletion frequencies observed in the various
T-ALL subgroups are caused by differences in the (de)methylation status of taldb1 in these subgroups.