RESUMO
Notch signalling is involved in the development of several autoimmune diseases, one of such diseases is ITP. The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the expression levels of Notch1 receptor and its target Hes1 gene in Egyptian paediatric ITP patients. Real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction was used to analyse the expression levels of Notch1 and Hes1 in 42 children with primary ITP (22 newly diagnosed and 20 persistent) cases. Twenty age and sex matched non-ITP controls were included. The expression levels of Notch1 were higher in newly diagnosed and persistent cases than controls with high statistical significant difference (P value < 0.001, P < 0.001) respectively, similarly as regards the expression levels of HES1 (P value < 0.001, P < 0.007) respectively. A significant positive correlation was found between Notch1 and Hes1 expression levels in newly diagnosed cases (r = 0.587, P value = 0.004). There was an association between levels of both genes in most of ITP patients but Hes1 was markedly elevated than Notch1 in few cases. High expression levels of Notch1/Hes1 indicated the important role of Notch signalling in both newly diagnosed and persistent ITP. High expression levels of Hes1 than Notch1 may shed light on its value as a therapeutic target for future research in ITP.
