Quantitative assessment of Wilms tumor 1 expression by real‑time quantitative polymerase chain reaction in patients with acute myeloblastic leukemia

Background: The Wilms tumor 1 (WT1) gene is originally defined as a tumor suppressor gene and a transcription factor that overexpressed in leukemic cells. It is highly expressed in more than 80% of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients, both in bone marrow (BM) and in peripheral blood (PB), and it is used as a powerful and independent marker of minimal residual disease (MRD); we have determined the expression levels of the WT1 by real‑time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RQ‑PCR) in PB and BM in 126 newly diagnosed AML patients. Materials and Methods: This study was done in molecular pathology and cancer research center from April 2014 to June 2015, RQ‑PCR method was used to determine the WT1 gene expression in BM and/or PB samples from 126 patients of AML, we cloned both WT1 and ABL genes for creating a standard curve, and we calculate copy number of WT1 genes in patients. Results: A total of 126 AML patients consist of 70 males (55.6%) and 56 females (44.4%), with a median age of 26 years; 104 (81%) patients out of 126 show overexpression of WT1 gene. We also concomitant monitoring of fusion transcripts (PML RARa, AML1‑ETO, MLL‑MLL, CBFb‑MYH11, or DEK‑CAN) in our patients, the AML1‑ETO group showing remarkably low levels of WT1 compared with other fusion transcript and the CBFB‑MYH11 showing high levels of WT1. Conclusion: We conclude that WT1 expression by RQ‑PCR in AML patients may be employed as an independent tool to detect MRD in the majority of normal karyotype AML patients.