Objective: To explore the role of the expression of HA117 gene in bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMNC) with acute leukemia and multidrug resistance.
Methods: HA117 gene expressions in 36 children with acute leukemia and 10 children with Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) were tested using semi quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique.
Results: The HA117 gene was expressed in 75% of children with acute leukemia. There was no significant difference in HA117 gene expression between children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL, 69.57%) and children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML, 91.67%). But the semi-quantitative expression of HA117/beta-actin in AML childern was significantly higher than in ALL children (q=4.5852, P<0.01). The expressions of HA117 gene and HA117/beta-actin in both ALL and AML children were significantly higher than in ITP children chi2=5.05, 8.81; q=4.4612, 6.9695; P<0.05). The remission patients had lower expression of HA117/beta-actin and similar expression of HA117 compared with initially diagnosed patients. The remission patients had higher expression of HA117 gene and similar expression of HA117/beta-actin compared with patients with ITP. The non-remission patients had higher expression of HA117/beta-actin than remission patients and ITP patients (q=3.1705, 4.4102, P<0.05), but no significant difference from initially diagnosed patients (q=0.5470, P>0.05).
Conclusion: The expression of HA117 gene is high in the BMMNC of initially diagnosed and non-remission patients with AL. But the remission patients have similar semi-quantitative expression of HA117 as patients with ITP, which indicates that a quantitative testing is more important. The expression of HA117 gene decreases with the improvement of the illness. HA117 is one of the factors that may affect the clinical remission of AML. The new gene HA117 may also be associated with multidrug resistance of leukemia.