FLI1, 11q24.3, Red
EWSR1, 22q12.1-q12.2 Green
The FLI1/EWSR1 Translocation probe consists of green probes (139kb, 151kb) flanking the breakpoint region at the EWSR1 gene locus and red probes (94kb, 79kb) flanking the breakpoint region at the FLI1 locus.
Ewing's sarcoma (EWS) is the second most frequent primary bone cancer in patients under 20 years of age1. It is mainly characterised by a translocation between the two genes - EWSR1 (Ewing's Sarcoma Region 1) and FLI1 (Friend Leukaemia virus Integration 1) - in the t(11;22)(q24;q12) translocation, found in 85% of such tumours2. 10% of the remaining cases have a variant translocation involving EWSR1 and ERG, t(21;22)(q22;q12), and less than 1% carry one of the 7p22 (ETV1), 17q12 (E1AF) or 2q36 (FEV) translocations with EWSR1.
EWSR1 is also involved in translocations in desmoplasmic small round cell tumours, a subset of angiomatoid fibrous histocytomas, and possibly in myxoid liposarcoma3,4.
The FLI1/EWSR1 Translocation, Dual Fusion probe can also be used to distinguish rare soft tissue sarcoma, a clear cell sarcoma, from malignant melanoma, a distinction that is difficult to make via either histology or immunohistology. The EWS-ATF (Activating Transcription Factor 1) translocation, t(12;22) (q13;q12), has been identified in 70-90% of clear cell sarcoma yet has not been observed in malignant melanoma5. This translocation can be detected using the FLI1/EWSR1 Translocation, Dual Fusion probe. FISH has been shown to be a more sensitive and reliable method than RT-PCR for the diagnosis of EWS in solid tissues6.
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