[Expression of human telomerase reverse transcriptase and survivin gene in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome]

This study was aimed to investigate the expressions of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) and survivin gene in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), and to explore their relationship. The expression of hTERT mRNA in bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMNCs) of 56 patients with MDS and 27 patients with iron deficiency anemia were detected by RT-PCR, the expressions of survivin gene in BMMNCs of 55 patients with MDS and 12 patients with iron deficiency anemia were detected by real-time RT-PCR. The results showed that the expression of hTERT significantly elevated in RA and RAEB patients, as compared with controls (p<0.005). With the disease alleviated, the expression of hTERT decreased and had no significant difference from the controls (p>0.25). There was no significant difference in expression of hTERT between low+int-1 risk group and int-2+high-risk group by IPSS (p>0.50). The expression of survivin gene significantly increased in RA and RAEB patients, as compared with controls (p<0.02, p<0.05). The expression of survivin gene in low+int-1 risk group by IPSS was significantly higher than that in the controls (p<0.02), and there was no significant difference in expression of survivin gene between int-2+high-risk group patients and the controls (p>0.10). It is concluded that the expressions of hTERT and survivin may play a critical role in escaping malignant clone of MDS from apoptosis and acquiring the ability to divide unlimitedly.