title: WT1 and GATA1 expression in myelodysplastic syndrome and acute leukemia.
abstract: The Wilms' tumor protein, WT1, represses transcription from several growth factor genes. WT1 transcription is regulated in erythroid and myeloid lineages by the transcription factor GATA-1. Using a sensitive, isotopic duplex RT-PCR procedure amplifying WT1 or GATA-1 together with beta-actin as the internal control in a single reaction mix, we quantitated the expression of WT1 and GATA-1 mRNA of 16 patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), 56 with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and 22 with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). K562 was used as reference positive control for this cell line expresses both WT1 and GATA-1. Among MDS patients, increased WT1 expression was found in refractory anemia with excess blast (RAEB) and RAEB in transformation (RAEB-T) subtypes compared to the normal controls, whereas WT1 expression in refractory anemia (RA) was not different from the normal control level. All of AML cases of subtypes M0, M1, M2 and M3 expressed WT1 more than three times the normal WT1 level. Subtypes M4 to M7 showed significantly lower WT1 levels than M1 to M3 and AML cases with CD14+ expressed less WT1 than CD14-. Higher than normal WT1 levels were also expressed in cases of ALL.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston 77030, USA.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Patmasiriwat
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fraizer
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kantarjian
authors.forename: G F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Saunders
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D050981:Erythroid-Specific DNA-Binding Factors; D005260:Female; D050982:GATA1 Transcription Factor; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D007951:Leukemia, Myeloid / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009190:Myelodysplastic Syndromes / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D025721:WT1 Proteins
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D050981:Erythroid-Specific DNA-Binding Factors; D050982:GATA1 Transcription Factor; C494688:GATA1 protein, human; D014157:Transcription Factors; D025721:WT1 Proteins