ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate mRNA and protein expression of aproliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL) in peripheral blood mononuclear cell and plasma of patients with B cells non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL) pre- or post- chemotherapy and to explore the role of APRIL in the B-NHL. Methods The mRNA and protein expression of APRIL were detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RFQ-PCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA), respectively. According to the standard curves,the quantitative levels of target mRNA and protein were determined. Results The detection linear range of targeted mRNA by RFQ-PCR was 101-109 pg/ml, and the coefficient of variation values for both intra- and inter-experimental reproducibility ranged 1.69 %-5.99 % and 6.35 %-10.12 %, respectively. To detect expression of APRIL protein by ELISA, the correlation coefficient of standard curves reached 0.9922. Before or after chemical treatment, the expression levels of APRIL mRNA and protein in patients with B-NHL were significantly higher than those in normal control (P ＜0.01), while the expression levels in post-treatment patients with Ⅲ and Ⅳ stage were lower than those of pre-treatment patients with corresponding stage (P ＜0.05, respectively), but those of pre- and post-treatment patients with Ⅰ / Ⅱ stage were not different (P ＞0.05).Conclusion The expression level of APRIL mRNA is similar to that of APRIL protein. APRIL may be involved in pathogenesis and development of B-NHL. Moreover, APRIL may be related to the burden of B-NHL and it may be considered as a targeted molecule for B-NHL.