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Studies of WT1 gene expression in leukemia patients
Zhongxia Huang1, Bai Xiao, Shilun Chen
1Chaoyang Hospital of Capital Medical University, Beijing 100020, China.
Objective:
To explore the expression of WT1 gene in leukemia patients and its clinical implications.
Methods:
Expression of WT1 mRNA was detected in two leukemia cell lines (K562 and HL-60), 49 acute leukemia (AL) patients, 33 chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients and 25 healthy subjects by reverse trans-criptase-nested polymerase chain reaction (RT-Nested PCR).
Results:
WT1 gene was expressed in all subtype of AL including K562 and HL-60 cell lines, 21/29 newly diagnosed and relapsed AL patients, 1/20 complete remission (CR) AL patients, 15/18 CML blastic crisis patients, 1/5 CML patients in accelerated phase, and 1/10 CML patients in chronic phase. WT1 gene was undetectable in 25 healthy subjects. The expression level of WT1 gene was related to the prognosis of AL, patients with relative level >/= 1.0 had lower CR rates and disease-free survival. For CML patients, WT1 gene expression was associated with the clinical phase, it increased with disease progressed.
Conclusion:
WT1 gene expression is associated with pathogenesis of leukemia. It is a prognostic factor and a marker for the detection of minimal residual disease in AL and may used as an indicator for diagnosing CML blastic crisis.