title: Hypermethylation of CpG islands in the promoter region of the p15INK4B gene in childhood acute leukaemia.
abstract: It has been reported that the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor (CDKI) gene p15INK4B is frequently inactivated by genetic alterations and may be responsible for various malignant tumours. Another way of inactivation of this CDKI is by hypermethylation of 5'CpG islands in the promoter region of the p15INK4B gene and this inactivation seems to be a frequent event in various haematological malignancies. In the present study, we investigated the methylation status of the p151NK4B gene to clarify its role in the pathogenesis of childhood acute myeloid (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). The study included 23 cases of B-cell origin ALL, 13 cases of T-cell origin ALL, 32 cases of AML, and 10 apparently healthy controls. Hypermethylation was studied by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction. Hypermethylation of the p15INK4B gene was more frequent in cases with T-cell origin ALL (46.2%), but similar among children with B-cell origin ALL (13.0%) and AML (18.8%). Hypermethylation of p15INK4B may be involved in the pathogenesis of T-cell origin ALL, but not in that of AML or B-cell origin ALL.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Chemistry, Athens University Medical School, Greece.
authors.forename: Erasmia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tsellou
authors.forename: Constantinos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Troungos
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moschovi
authors.forename: Fani
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Athanasiadou-Piperopoulou
authors.forename: Sophia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Polychronopoulou
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kosmidis
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kalmanti
authors.forename: Angelos
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hatzakis
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dessypris
authors.forename: Anastasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kalofoutis
authors.forename: Eleni
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Petridou
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D018899:CpG Islands / Q000235:genetics*; D019941:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p16 / Q000235:genetics*; D019175:DNA Methylation; D006801:Humans; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000235:genetics*; D011379:Prognosis; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D019941:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p16