[Study on Immunophenotypes and Gene of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia].

OBJECTIVE: To retrospectively analyze the immunophenotyping, fusion gene and gene mutation of 30 acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cases and to investigate the relationship between the analysis results and the clinical therapeutic effect and prognosis. METHODS: Thirty All phtients were collected from the First Hospital of Harbin, Institute of Hematology and Oncology Department of Pediatrics from August 2015 to June 2016. According to the classification of FAB standard, 27 cases were B system ALL, 3 cases were T system ALL. All patients were diagnosed by bone marrow cell morphology, immunophenotype, cytogenetics and molecular biology detetions, the differentiation antigens on membrane surface and in cytoplasm of ALL cells, and 43 kinds of fusion gene qualitative screening（BCR-ABL， AML1-ETO, PML-RARα and so on） were qualitative screened and ALL gene mutations（IKZF1, TP53, PAX5, JAK1, JAK2, CRLF2, PHF6, NOTCH1, FBXW7, PTEN）were detected by next generation sequencing(NGS). RESULTS: (1) Among 30 ALL patients, the incidence of B-ALL(90.00%) was higher than that of T-ALL(10.00%). (2) 27 cases of B-ALL expressed CD19, CD22, CD10, CD34 and so on. CD19 and CD22 were the most diagnostic antigens of B-ALL. (3) 3 cases of T-ALL mainly expressed cCD3, CD7, CD10, cTDT and so on; cCD3 and CD7 were the most diagnostic antigens of T-ALL. (4) The quantitative screening of 30 cases of ALL 43 fusion genes found BCR-ABL,TEL-AML1 and E2A-PBX1, MLL-AF6, MLL-AF4, and SIL-TAL1 fusion gene was positive in 1 case each; NGS detection of gane mutations associated with ALL showed that: 3 cases of B-ALL found that TP53 mutation occured 3 casas of B-ALL, TET2 I1762V mutations in 1 cases, 3 patients (2 cases of T-ALL, 1 cases of B-ALL) showed NOTCH1 gene mutation. After a cycle of treatment, the efficacy of adult B-ALL treatment (28.57%) was significantly lower than that of child B-ALL (95.00%), and the survival rate of child B-ALL was significantly better than that of adult B-ALL until July 10, 2017, and the differences were significant. CONCLUSION: The immunophenotype technology of leukemia and molecular biology has an important guiding role in the diagnosis of leukemia, selection of treatment plan and evaluation of curative effect, and it is the complement of bone marrow cell morphology diagnosis.

[Application of Next Generation Sequencing for AML/MDS Diagnosis and Treatment].

OBJECTIVE: To detect the mutations of AML/MDS- related genes by using next generation sequencing (NGS), to analyze the mutation levels of each genes in the AML/MDS and the sensitivity of NGS, and to evaluate the feasibility of gene mutations for monitoring the MRD and predicating the progression of diseases. METHODS: The specimens were collected from primary AML (68 cases) and MDS (57 cases) patients from August 2015 to June 2016 in the Harbin Institute of Hematology and Oncology. The mutations of 22 related genes were detected by using AML/MDS-NGS chips. RESULTS: TET2 gene showed the highest mutation rate in AML (55.9%) and MDS (56.1%). The gene mutations were as follows: CEBPA (11.8%), DNMT3A (7.4%), C-KIT (7.4%) and FLT3-ITD (7.4%) in AML, and U2AF1 (10.5%) and SRSF2 (10.5%) in MDS. All the genes had specific mutation sites except TP53 and CEBPA. The mutations of FLT3, C-KIT and CEBPA became negative in the 5 AML patients in remission when compared with those at primary attack, but the mutation rate of TET2 gene was not obviously changed, whereas the mutation rate of the 5 MDS patients was not significantly changed. The new gene mutations appeared in 3 MDS patients with disease progression, but the mutation rate was not changed significantly in the disease progression. The gene mutation rate still has not been changed significantly even after remission. CONCLUSION: Both AML and MDS have their own specific mutated genes and sites. Some gene mutations, such as CEBPA, can be used as an effective indicator to monitoring MRD in AML patients, but those only used for the evaluation of the disease progression and prognosis in MDS patients.

Cytosine 5-hydroxymethylation regulates VHL gene expression in renal clear cell carcinoma.

Cytosine5-hyxymethylation (5hmC)which is a new epigenetic modification form plays important roles in the development and progression of tumors. In the present study, we observed that levels of 5hmC in the promoter region of Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) were lower in 97 samples of renal clear cell carcinoma tissue than in matched adjacent benign tissues. Moreover, when the cancer tissue samples were divided based on pathological staging, VHL expression and the level of 5hmC in the VHL promoter were both lower in pathological grade III tumors than in grades I or II. Correspondingly, expression of TET1, which catalyzes the formation of 5hmC, was also lower in grade III renal clear cell carcinomas than in grade I or II disease. These findings suggest the 5hmC level on VHL is a key determinant of the gene's expression and may participate in the occurrence and development of renal clear cell carcinoma. Thus the 5hmC level may be a useful indicator for early diagnosis and appropriate treatment of renal clear cell carcinoma.

Arsenic trioxide regulates adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation in bone marrow MSCs of aplastic anemia patients through BMP4 gene.

The typical pathological feature of aplastic anemia (AA) is the rise in the number of fat cells and the reduction of osteoblasts in bone marrow. However, both fat cells and osteobalsts in bone marrow are derived from the mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Generally, the adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation is a dynamic and balanceable process. The imbalance of the adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation may participate in the occurrence and progress of many diseases. Arsenic trioxide (ATO) could induce differentiation and apoptosis in tumor cells. In this study, Oil Red-O and Alizarin red were used to detect the adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation. The ability of adipogenic differentiation is much higher, whereas the osteogenic differentiation is much lower in the MSCs of AA patients compared with healthy controls. ATO inhibits adipogenic differentiation and promotes osteogenic differentiation in the MSC of AA patients. The expression of BMP4 is increased with ATO treatment. The ability of adipogenic differentiation is decreased, whereas the osteogenic differentiation is increased after transfection of BMP4 gene into the MSCs of AA patients. This study shows that ATO regulates the adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation balance of MSCs in AA, which provides a theoretical basis for the adjunctive therapy of ATO on AA. The BMP4 gene is involved in the ATO regulation of adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation balance, which provides a new target for the treatment of AA.

YC-1 exerts inhibitory effects on MDA-MB-468 breast cancer cells by targeting EGFR in vitro and in vivo under normoxic condition.

3-(5'-hydroxymethyl-2'-furyl)-1-benzyl indazole (YC-1), the hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α) inhibitor, suppresses tumor proliferation and metastasis by down-regulating HIF-1α expression under hypoxic conditions. Our previous studies demonstrated that YC-1 inhibited breast cancer cell proliferation under normoxic conditions. In the current study, we investigated the targets of YC-1 and mechanism of its action in MDA-MB-468 breast cancer cells. In the in vitro experiments, we found that YC-1 significantly inhibited MDA-MB-468 cell proliferation in normoxia and hypoxia. Under normoxic conditions, YC-1 induced apoptosis of MDA-MB-468 cells and blocked cell cycle in the G1 phase, and these effects were possibly related to caspase 8, p21, and p27 expression. RT-PCR and Western blotting results showed that YC-1 primarily inhibited HIF-1α at the mRNA and protein levels under hypoxic conditions, but suppressed the expression of epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR) at the mRNA and protein levels under normoxic conditions. In vivo, YC-1 prolonged survival, increased survival rate, decreased tumor size and metastasis rate, and inhibited tissue EGFR and HIF-1α expression. However, YC-1 exerted no obvious effect on body weight. These results indicate that YC-1 inhibits the proliferation of MDA-MB-468 cells by acting on multiple targets with minimal side effects. Thus, YC-1 is a promising target drug for breast cancer.

NNAT and DIRAS3 genes are paternally expressed in pigs.

Although expression and epigenetic differences of imprinted genes have been extensively characterised in man and the mouse, little is known on livestock species. In this study, the polymorphism-based approach was used to detect the imprinting status of NNAT and DIRAS3 genes in five heterozygous pigs (based on SNP) of Large White and Meishan F(1) hybrids. The results show that both genes were paternally expressed in all the tested tissues (heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, stomach, small intestine, skeletal muscle, fat, uterus, ovary and pituitary). In addition, the NNAT gene had two transcripts in all tested tissues, which is consistent with its counterpart in man and cattle.