Quantitative detection of the WT-1 gene expression in acute leukemia patients and its clinical significance

ObjectiveTo study the expression of Wilms gene (WT-1) in bone marrow cells of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and analyze the relationship between the expression level of WT-1 and clinical efficacy.

MethodsThe clinical data of 66 AML patients, which included 8 patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) and 58 patients with acute non-lymphocytic leukemia (ANLL, except APL), were collected.Twenty healthy people were set as the control group.The expression levels of WT-1 in bone marrow cells of AML patients were detected using real-time quantitative PCR.The median level of WT-1 was set as the clinic value, the 58 newly diagnosed as ANLL patients were divided into the high-expression WT-1 group and low-expression WT-1 group.The relationship between the expression level of WT-1 and sex, age, ratio of progenitor cells, count of peripheral white blood cells, hemoglobin, platelets, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), C-reactive protein (CRP), calcitonin (PCT), complete remission rate (CR) and relapse rate were analyzed, and the relationship between WT-1 gene expression level and prognosis of AML patients was revealed.

ResultsThe difference of the expression rate of WT-1 between cases group and control group was statistically significant (P < 0.01), and the difference of the expression level of WT-1 among each group was statistically significant (P < 0.05).Compared with the control group, the expression levels of WT-1 in APL patients and M1 group were higher (P < 0.05).The difference of the expression level of WT-1 among ANLL patient subtypes was statistically significant (P < 0.05).Compared with the M1 group, the expression levels of WT-1 in M2 and M3 group were relatively low (P < 0.05).Compared with the low WT-1 expression group, the proportion of bone marrow progenitor cells and number of peripheral blood white blood cells in high WT-1 expression group significantly increased (P < 0.05).There was no statistical significance in gender, age, hemoglobin, platelet count, LDH, CRP, and PCT between low and high WT-1 expression groups (P>0.05), and there was no statistical significance in prognosis between two groups (P>0.05).The CR rate of AML patients in high WT-1 expression group was lower than that in low WT-1 expression group (P < 0.05).

ConclusionsThe expression level of WT-1 in bone marrow cells of patients with AML can be used as an index to evaluate the prognosis and curative effect of the disease.