[Significance of monitoring WT1 mRNA levels of peripheral blood and bone marrow in acute myeloid leukemia].
This study investigated the clinical value of monitoring peripheral blood (PB) WT1 mRNA levels in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. We evaluated the correlation between PB and bone marrow (BM) WT1 mRNA levels in the follow-up period of the clinical course of 17 AML patients. The levels of fusion gene transcripts in PB were also monitored when detected before chemotherapy. Patients with sustained complete remission (CR) showed a trend toward a higher WT1 mRNA reduction rate by induction therapy than patients who relapsed after CR (p=0.09). Correlation between the WT1 levels of PB and BM samples obtained on the same day was relatively strong (R=0.87). Among the four fusion transcript-positive patients, the levels of fusion transcripts and WT1 showed a similar transition pattern. These findings suggest that WT1 mRNA is a useful marker to improve risk-stratification for post-induction therapy and to guide management of individual AML patients by monitoring minimal residual disease, especially for patients with no disease-specific marker. Since WT1 monitoring via PB sampling is simple and less invasive than BM sampling, the use of this marker also improves patient management.
Division of Hematology, Ichinomiya Municipal Hospital, Japan.
Kunio
K
Kitamura
Yasuyuki
Y
Nakano
Koichi
K
Watamoto
Daisuke
D
Koga
Tomoki
T
Naoe
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood*; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000737:chemistry*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic; D018365:Neoplasm, Residual / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D025721:WT1 Proteins / Q000235:genetics*
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D025721:WT1 Proteins