SALL4 expression in children with acute leukemia and its clinical significance / 中国肿瘤临床

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the expression of sal-like 4 (SALL4) gene in children with acute leukemia and analyze its clinical significance. Methods:Real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry were used to detect SALL4 mRNA and SALL4 protein ex-pressions in 50 patients initially diagnosed with acute leukemia and in 15 patients with immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), which served as controls. Changes were detected in SALL4 mRNA expression from preliminary diagnosis and after complete remission of 5 acute leukemia patients. The relationship between SALL4 mRNA expression and clinical indicators was analyzed. Results: SALL4 mRNA expression is higher in initially diagnosed B-ALL [13.89 (1.00-63.15)] and AML [11.12 (2.31-56.59)] than in ITP controls [1.00 (0.29-1.71)] (P0.05). SALL4 protein expression is in agreement with SALL4 mRNA expression. SALL4 mRNA expression significant-ly decreased in complete remission stage [0.98 (0.22-1.09)] than in acute phase [28.64 (11.20-87.46)] in acute-leukemia patients (P0.05). Conclusion:SALL4 was found to play an important role in pro-moting childhood B-ALL and AML, which promises a new target for monitoring the therapeutic effects and evaluating the prognosis of childhood B-ALL and AML.