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Updated: May 30, 2026
Mapping the Structure-Function Relationships of Disordered Oncogenic Transcription Factors Using Transcriptomic Analysis
Published on: June 27, 2020
Quantitative assessment of Wilms tumor 1 (WT1) gene transcripts in Egyptian acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients
Hoda Ali Sadek1, Wafaa Hassan El-Metnawey, Iman Abdel-Mohsen Shaheen
1Department of Clinical and Chemical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
Background:
Accurate assessment of minimal residual disease (MRD) in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients after initial chemotherapy is essential to evaluate the efficacy of therapeutic regimens. Wilms tumor 1 (WT1) is a pan-leukemic marker used for identification of the leukemic clone rather than the use of individual specific molecular aberration of ALL.
Methods:
Using a real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, bone marrow samples from 41 newly diagnosed Egyptian ALL patients; 22 adults and 19 children were examined for WT1 expression. After induction therapy, WT1 expression was reestimated in 20 ALL patients.
Results:
WT1 was overexpressed in adult and pediatric ALL patients (95.4% and 89.4%, respectively). WT1 expression at diagnosis had no statistically significant impact on disease-free survival of patients (P = 0.054). However, WT1 expression increased after induction chemotherapy in the 3 pediatric patients who had relapse.
Conclusions:
WT1 is a leukemia-associated molecular marker that may be used for the diagnosis and for monitoring clinical progress in ALL; it also can be used as a molecular target for adoptive immunotherapy.
