[Preliminary analysis on human telomerase reverse transcriptase gene expression in acute leukemia].
OBJECTIVE
To explore the relationship between gene expression of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) and its clinical characteristics in leukemia.


METHODS
The protocol of RT-PCR was used to detect the hTERTmRNA expressing levels in peripheral blood samples from leukemic patients under primary treatment(n=42), in complete remission(n=21), with recurrent leukemia (n=4); and from normal subjects (n=5), respectively.


RESULTS
The positive percentage of hTERTmRNA expression was 73.81% for the primary treatment cases, and 19.05% for the complete remission cases. All of the recurrent cases gave positive results. One of the normal controls presented low level of hTERTmRNA expression. The expressing level of hTERTmRNA in primary treatment cases was 0.64+/-0.21, in complete remission leukemia 0.31+/-0.16, in recurrent cases 0.84+/-0.09, and in normal controls 0.10.


CONCLUSIONS
The activation of telomerase may be an essential factor in the development of leukemia and usually be the late event in its progression. As an indicator of leukemia cell, the detection of hTERT mRNA may be used in clinical analysis, disease monitoring and prognosis judgement.
Zhang
Yan
Y
School of Pre-clinical Forensic Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu, PR China.
Liu
Shu-qiu
SQ
Qu
Yi
Y
Li
Xi-hong
XH
Wang
Feng-lan
FL
Dong
Wei
W
Liu
Bai-lin
BL
D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D005260:Female; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007938:Leukemia / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012074:Remission Induction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D019098:Telomerase / Q000235:genetics*
D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D019098:Telomerase