title: Quantitative assessment of Wilms tumor 1 (WT1) gene transcripts in Egyptian acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Accurate assessment of minimal residual disease (MRD) in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients after initial chemotherapy is essential to evaluate the efficacy of therapeutic regimens. Wilms tumor 1 (WT1) is a pan-leukemic marker used for identification of the leukemic clone rather than the use of individual specific molecular aberration of ALL.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using a real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, bone marrow samples from 41 newly diagnosed Egyptian ALL patients; 22 adults and 19 children were examined for WT1 expression. After induction therapy, WT1 expression was reestimated in 20 ALL patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  WT1 was overexpressed in adult and pediatric ALL patients (95.4% and 89.4%, respectively). WT1 expression at diagnosis had no statistically significant impact on disease-free survival of patients (P = 0.054). However, WT1 expression increased after induction chemotherapy in the 3 pediatric patients who had relapse.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  WT1 is a leukemia-associated molecular marker that may be used for the diagnosis and for monitoring clinical progress in ALL; it also can be used as a molecular target for adoptive immunotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Chemical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Hoda Ali
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Sadek
authors.forename: Wafaa Hassan
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: El-Metnawey
authors.forename: Iman Abdel-Mohsen
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Shaheen
authors.forename: Mervat Mamdouh
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Korshied
authors.forename: Azza Sobieh
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Mohamed
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D004534:Egypt; D005260:Female; D015973:Gene Expression Regulation, Leukemic; D052138:Genes, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D025721:WT1 Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D025721:WT1 Proteins