0272
EXPRESSION OF TELOMERASE CATALYTIC SUBUNIT (hTERT) IN CHILDHOOD
ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC LEUKEMIA Li XH1, Wang FL1,
Zhang Y2, Liu BL2 1
The Second
Hospital of West China University of Medical Sciences, Chengdu, China 2 Medical Molecular Biology Laboratory, West China
University of Medical Sciences, Chengdu, China Objective: To investigate the prognostic role of
hTERT expression in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Methods: We examined the expression of hTERT
mRNA in peripheral blood (PB) specimens from 35 patients with ALL and from
11 normal children using semi-quantitative RT-PCR. Results:
The expression of hTERT was detected in 26
(74.29%) of 35 ALL specimens and in 2 of 11(18.52%) normal specimens.
Furthermore, hTERT expression was at significantly higher levels in ALL
compared with normal children (P<0.05). hTERT expression levels at the
time of diagnosis were correlated to white blood cell (WBC) count, presence
of mediastinal mass, immunological classes, effect of prednisone trials.
The levels of hTERT expression of good prognosis in ALL were lower than
poor prognosis (P<0.05). Among four patients in relapse, they had high
levels of hTERT expression and three of four patients hadn't achieved a
second CR. Conclusion: The
up-regulation of hTERT gene expression may play a very important role in
genesis and progression of leukemia. Expression of hTERT may be used for
determination of prognosis in pediatric ALL