title: Expression of the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor gene (RB-1) in acute leukemia.
abstract: In this report we review current studies concerning the RB-1 gene expression in acute leukemias. The RB-1 gene was analyzed in several studies by protein-, RNA and DNA-techniques in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) as well as in acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). The frequency of RB-1 inactivation in ALL-patients ranged between 30% and 64% in several studies. Structural abnormalities of the RB-1 gene were reported in 18% of ALL-patients and in 27% of Philadelphia chromosome-positive ALL, respectively. The proportion of AML-patients with absent RB-1 protein expression ranged between 19% and 55%. Structural RB-1-abnormalities in AML were predominantly reported in leukemias with monocytic differentiation. Furthermore, the prognostic value of an abnormal RB-1 gene expression was also estimated in some studies. In childhood ALL RB-1 inactivation was reported to have prognostic significance while in contrast, in another study on adults no prognostic value of RB-1 was found. In 4 out of 5 documented studies AML-patients with RB-1 inactivation generally had a poorer prognosis. In conclusion, RB-1 inactivation is frequently observed in acute leukemia. The prognostic value of low RB-1 expression is controversial but the majority of published studies found low RB-1 expression to be a negative prognostic predictor, in acute leukemia.
authors.affiliation: University of Jena, Department of Pediatrics, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sauerbrey
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stammler
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zintl
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Volm
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000235:genetics*; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000235:genetics*; D016160:Retinoblastoma Protein / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D016160:Retinoblastoma Protein