Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and detection in situ has been described for the human papillomavirus (HPV 16, 1) and visna virus (2). Use of PCR techniques is extremely powerful yet has some disadvantages. PCR amplification in situ circumvents some of these and also allows correlation of cell morphology with mRNA expression or presence of a translocation. In Phase I, methods of PCR amplification in situ for cancer research, using formalin fixed, paraffin embedded cell lines will be optimized. These targets will be the t(14;18) bcl2 (MBR)/IgH translocation using SU-DHL-6 cells, and RNA-PCR in situ for the t(9;22) bcr/abl translocation, using K562 cells. The HL-60 cell line will be used as a negative control for mixing experiments. In Phase II and III, assays for the t(14;18) bcl2 (MCR)/IgH t(9;22) bcr/abl (ALL), t(1;19) E2A/prl-pbx, t(15;17)myl/RARa, and t(6;9) dek/can translocation will be developed and commercialized.
