| Autor: |
Nogueira BMD; Department of Medicine, Pharmacogenetics Laboratory, Drug Research and Development Center (NPDM), Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza 60430-275, CE, Brazil., da Costa Pantoja L; Department of Pediatrics, Octávio Lobo Children's Hospital, Belém 60430-275, PA, Brazil., da Silva EL; Department of Medicine, Pharmacogenetics Laboratory, Drug Research and Development Center (NPDM), Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza 60430-275, CE, Brazil., Mello Júnior FAR; Molecular Biology Laboratory, Ophir Loyola Hospital, Belém 66063-240, PA, Brazil., Teixeira EB; Department of Biological Sciences, Oncology Research Center, Federal University of Pará, Belém 66073-005, PA, Brazil., Wanderley AV; Department of Pediatrics, Octávio Lobo Children's Hospital, Belém 60430-275, PA, Brazil., da Silva Maués JH; Hematology and Transfusion Medicine Center, University of Campinas, Campinas 13083-970, SP, Brazil., de Moraes Filho MO; Department of Medicine, Pharmacogenetics Laboratory, Drug Research and Development Center (NPDM), Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza 60430-275, CE, Brazil., de Moraes MEA; Department of Medicine, Pharmacogenetics Laboratory, Drug Research and Development Center (NPDM), Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza 60430-275, CE, Brazil., Montenegro RC; Department of Medicine, Pharmacogenetics Laboratory, Drug Research and Development Center (NPDM), Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza 60430-275, CE, Brazil., Khayat AS; Department of Biological Sciences, Oncology Research Center, Federal University of Pará, Belém 66073-005, PA, Brazil., Moreira-Nunes CA; Department of Medicine, Pharmacogenetics Laboratory, Drug Research and Development Center (NPDM), Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza 60430-275, CE, Brazil.; Department of Biological Sciences, Oncology Research Center, Federal University of Pará, Belém 66073-005, PA, Brazil. |
| Abstrakt: |
Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) is a neoplasm of the hematopoietic system defined as a clonal expansion of an abnormal lymphoid precursor cell. It mostly affects children under five years of age and is the most common tumor to afflict pediatric patients. The expression of the human telomerase gene ( hTERT ) in patients with ALL has been studied as a biomarker and could become a new therapeutic target. We evaluate the role of hTERT gene expression in ALL pediatric patients, through quantitative real-time PCR technique, and the possible correlation between hTERT expression and clinical variables: gender, age, white blood cells (WBC), gene fusions, and immunophenotyping. The analysis between healthy controls and ALL patients ( N = 244) was statistically significant ( p < 0.001), demonstrating hTERT overexpression in these patients. In comparison with the usual set of clinical variables, the data were not statistically significant ( p > 0.05), indicating that hTERT is equally overexpressed among patients regardless of gender, age, gene fusions, and immunophenotyping. Moreover, patients who presented a higher hTERT expression level had a significant ( p < 0.0001) lower overall survival rate. In summary, hTERT expression emerges as an important molecular pathway in leukemogenesis regardless patient's clinical variables, thus, the data here presented pointed it as a valuable biomarker in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia and a promising target for new therapeutic and prognostic measures. |
