Telomere length and telomerase mutations in peripheral blood leukocytes of children with chronic aplastic anemia / 中国当代儿科杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the change in telomere length and TERC and TERT mutations in peripheral blood leukocytes of children with chronic aplastic anemia (CAA).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty-nine children with CAA were divided into untreated group (n=24) who did not receive immunosuppressive therapy (IST), response group (n=36) who showed response to IST, and non-response group (n=9) who showed no response to IST; another 35 healthy children matched for age and sex were selected as the control group. The telomere-to-single copy gene (T/S) ratio in peripheral blood leukocytes was measured by real-time PCR in all groups. PCR was performed to detect TERC and TERT mutations in all children with CAA.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The untreated and non-response groups had significantly lower T/S ratios than the control and response groups (P<0.01), whereas there was no significant difference in T/S ratio between the response and control groups (P>0.05). TERC and TERT mutations were not found in all children with CAA.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The change in telomere length in children with CAA may be related to the development and progression of disease. Telomere length measurement may be used as a prognostic indicator in children with CAA.</p>