title: [Study of the correlation between the expression level of asparagine synthetase and the outcome of children with acute lymphocytic leukemia].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether the high level of asparagine synthetase (AS) expression in childhood acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) is associated with an inferior prognosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  AS mRNA level in leukemic cells from 53 newly diagnosed ALL children was measured by real time fluorescent quantitative PCR method. Patients were divided into groups according to their relapse risk and outcome, and the AS expression levels in each group were compared. The survival rates in different AS expressing level groups were estimated and compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The highest level of AS [median 17.25 (2.48-46. 82)] was observed in children failed remission, intermediate level [14.28 (3.20-54.47)] in relapsed children and the lowest level [5.08 (0.84-54.92)] in children with continuous complete remission (CCR) (P<0.05). The AS mRNA level [14.93 (2.48-54.47)] in children with poor outcome (un-remission and relapsed) was significantly higher than that in children in CCR (P<0.01). The two-year estimated disease free survival was much lower in children with high AS expression (53.8%) than in those with low AS expression (84.6%) (P<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High expression of AS is associated with a poor outcome in ALL children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology & Oncology, Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200127, China.
authors.forename: Chang-ying
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Ben-shang
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Long-jun
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Gu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001217:Aspartate-Ammonia Ligase / Q000378:metabolism*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000201:enzymology*; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D001217:Aspartate-Ammonia Ligase