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Published on: May 10, 2017
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children and SALL4 and BMI-1 gene expression
Hossam Hodeib1, Doaa El Amrousy2, Amira Youssef1
1Clinical Pathology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt.
Background:
Sal-like protein 4 transcription factor (SALL4) and B cell-specific Moloney murine leukemia virus integration site 1 (BMI-1) gene were reported to cause treatment failure and relapse in several malignancies. We aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of SALL4 and BMI-1 in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
Methods:
This prospective cohort study was carried out on 60 children with ALL as the patient group and 60 age- and sex-matched children as the control group. We evaluated the expression pattern of both SALL4 and BMI-1 genes in the peripheral blood using real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction in children with ALL at initial diagnosis before chemotherapy. We followed up with the patient group for 2 years for relapse or death.
Results:
Both SALL4 and BMI-1 were overexpressed in ALL children compared to the control group. Moreover, the expression of SALL4 and BMI-1 in patients with relapse was significantly higher than those with complete remission. The best cut-off of SALL4 and BMI-1 to predict relapse were >2.21 and 0.55 yielding sensitivity of 92.3% and 84.6%, respectively. Patients with overexpression of SALL4 and BMI-1 had significantly shorter overall and disease-free survival.
Conclusions:
SALL4 and BMI-1 could be useful prognostic markers in children with ALL to predict relapse.
