title: Expression profile of orphan receptor tyrosine kinase (ROR1) and Wilms' tumor gene 1 (WT1) in different subsets of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
abstract: Recent molecular investigations have demonstrated over-expression of a large number of tumor associated antigens (TAAs) in a variety of malignancies. Over-expression of ROR1 gene, a member of the receptor tyrosine kinase family, has recently been reported in B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Wilms' tumor gene 1 (WT1) has long been known as a universal TAA expressed in a variety of solid and hematopoietic malignancies. In the present study, the expression profile of ROR1 and WT1 was investigated in different immunophenotypic subsets of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) patients. RT-PCR method was used to determine the ROR1 and WT1 genes expression in bone marrow (BM) and peripheral blood (PB) samples from 51 newly diagnosed Iranian B-ALL patients. Isolated tumor cells from all patients were immunophenotyped by flow cytometry. Based on immunophenotypic results, our B-ALL patients were classified in four differentiation subsets; Pro-B (n = 7), Pre-B I (n = 29), Pre-B II (n = 13) and Immature/mature B-ALL (n = 2). Although ROR1 was over-expressed in more mature subsets (16.7%, 42.9%, 45.5% and 100%, respectively), WT1 was more represented in immature subsets of B-ALL patients (57.1%, 64.3%, 38.5% and 0%, respectively). Comparison of the frequency of ROR1 and WT1 positive samples at each immunophenotypic subtype revealed statistically significant difference only in Pre B I subtype (p = 0.02). Our results suggest that expression of ROR1 and WT1 in B-ALL is associated with the differentiation stage of the leukemic cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, School of Public Health, Medical Sciences/University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shabani
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Asgarian-Omran
authors.forename: Parvaneh
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vossough
authors.forename: Ramazan A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Sharifian
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Faranoush
authors.forename: Soheila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghragozlou
authors.forename: Jalal
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Khoshnoodi
authors.forename: Azam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Roohi
authors.forename: Mahmood
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jeddi-Tehrani
authors.forename: Hakan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mellstedt
authors.forename: Hodjatallah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rabbani
authors.forename: Fazel
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Shokri
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002051:Burkitt Lymphoma / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D007223:Infant; D007492:Iran; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics*; D057050:Receptor Tyrosine Kinase-like Orphan Receptors; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D025721:WT1 Proteins / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D012334:RNA, Neoplasm; D025721:WT1 Proteins; C078716:ROR1 protein, human; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; D057050:Receptor Tyrosine Kinase-like Orphan Receptors