A second Ewing's sarcoma translocation, t(21;22), fuses the EWS gene to another ETS-family transcription factor, ERG

Abstract

The t(11;22)(q24;q12), present in 85% of Ewing's sarcoma and related tumours, fuses the EWS gene from chromosome 22q12 and the ETS family member, FLI-1. This results in the expression of a chimaeric protein containing the amino-terminal portion of EWS fused to the ETS DNA-binding domain of FLI-1. We have identified a second Ewing's sarcoma translocation, t(21;22)(q22;q12), that fuses EWS to a different ETS family member, the ERG gene located on band 21q22. Identical EWS nucleotide sequences found in the EWS/FLI-1 fusion transcripts are fused to portions of ERG encoding an ETS DNA-binding domain resulting in expression of a hybrid EWS/ERG protein. These findings suggest that fusion of EWS to different members of the ETS family of transcription factor genes may result in the expression of similar disease phenotypes.