Prognostic Implications of Expression of the Wilms Tumor 1 (WT1) Gene in Acute Leukemia (Experience from South Egypt).

Background: Wilms’ tumor (WT1) gene expression has been reported in the majority of acute leukemia patients at diagnosis and has been evaluated as a prognostic and minimal residual disease (MRD) marker but its role is still controversial. Methods: Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used on bone marrow samples from 100 newly diagnosed adults and pediatrics acute leukemia patients (50 AML and 50 ALL patients). WT1 expression were examined at diagnosis and at the end of induction. Results: WT1 was expressed in (14%) ALL and in (36%) AML patients. We found no statistically significant impact of WT1 expression at diagnosis on response p= 0.054, 0.057, DFS (P = 0.591, 0.858), or OS (p= 0.339, p= 0.331) in ALL and AML patients respectively. Persistence of WT1 expressions at the end of induction didn't show any effect on relapse rate in AML however, it showed significant results in ALL p=0.045. Conclusion: Our results suggest that WT1 expression in patients with acute leukemia doesn't have any implication on response or survival however, significant association was found in predicting ALL relapse but the small sample size should be considered.

JAK-2V617F Mutation in Acute Leukemia (South Egypt Experience).

Aim: To search for JAK2V617F mutation in patients with acute myeloid and acute lymphoblastic leukemia in south Egypt. Study Design: JAK2V617F mutation detected by amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS) -PCR. Place and Duration of Study: Department of clinical pathology and department of medical oncology, South Egypt Cancer Institute, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt, between December 2010 and December 2012. Method: We included 90 patients (58 men and 32 women; age range 2-67 years) with denovo acute leukemia (30 acute myeloid leukemia and 60 acute lymphoblastic leukemia), JAK-2 V617F mutation using ARMS-PCR was done for all the patients. Results: JAK-2 V617F mutation was absent in all of the studied patients. Conclusion: Our results confirm the finding published previously which reported that JAK2 V617F mutation is very rare or absent in acute leukemia.