Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0023467 (acute myeloid leukemia)
35,200 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The clinical significance of WT1 gene expression at diagnosis and during therapy of AML has not yet been resolved. We analysed WT1 expression at presentation in an unselected group of 47 childhood AML patients using real-time quantitative reverse-transcription PCR. We also showed that within the first 30 h following aspiration RQ-RT-PCR results were not influenced by transportation time. We observed lower levels of WT1 transcript in AML M5 (P = 0.0015); no association was found between expression levels and sex, initial leukocyte count and karyotype-based prognostic groups. There was significant correlation between very low WT1 expression at presentation and excellent outcome (EFS P = 0.0014). Combined analysis of WT1 levels, three-colour flow cytometry residual disease detection and the course of the disease in 222 samples from 28 children with AML showed remarkable correlation. Fourteen patients expressed high WT1 levels at presentation. In eight of them, who suffered relapse or did not reach complete remission, dynamics of WT1 levels clearly correlated with the disease status and residual disease by flow cytometry. We conclude that very low WT1 levels at presentation represent a good prognostic factor and that RQ-RT-PCR-based analysis of WT1 expression is a promising and rapid approach for monitoring of MRD in approximately half of paediatric AML patients.
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PMID:Real-time quantitative PCR detection of WT1 gene expression in children with AML: prognostic significance, correlation with disease status and residual disease detection by flow cytometry. 1209 64

In normal bone marrow, WT1 expression is restricted to CD34+ cells. We assessed WT1 mRNA expression levels with quantitative, real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction in normal, myelodysplastic (MDS) and secondary acute myeloid leukaemia (sAML) bone marrow subfractions, based on differentiation status. The highest WT1 expression was observed in the primitive CD34+ rhodamine-123 (rho) dull cells, both in healthy donors and MDS or sAML patients. In contrast to normal CD34-negative bone marrow cells, WT1 was present in CD34-negative bone marrow cells in 12 out of 13 MDS patients and two sAML samples. Further analysis of this aberrant WT1 expression was performed in the CD34-negative subfractions of three MDS patients. In one of these, WT1 expression was found exclusively in the erythroid cells. This patient was completely transfusion dependent and showed morphological dyserythropoiesis. In another MDS patient, WT1 expression was found in a non-erythroid compartment. We conclude that abnormal WT1 expression may contribute to the disturbed differentiation of haematopoietic cells in MDS patients.
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PMID:Abnormal WT1 expression in the CD34-negative compartment in myelodysplastic bone marrow. 1219 81

Wilms tumor gene product WT1 and proteinase 3 are overexpressed antigens in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), against which cytotoxic T lymphocytes can be elicited in vitro and in murine models. We performed this study to investigate whether WT1- and proteinase 3-specific CD8 T cells spontaneously occur in AML patients. T cells recognizing HLA-A2.1-binding epitopes from WT1 or proteinase 3 could be detected ex vivo in 5 of 15 HLA-A2-positive AML patients by interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) ELISPOT assay and flow cytometry for intracellular IFN-gamma and in 3 additional patients by flow cytometry only. T cells producing IFN-gamma in response to proteinase 3 were further characterized in one patient by 4-color flow cytometry, identifying them as CD3(+)CD8(+)CD45RA(+) CCR7(-) T cells, resembling cytotoxic effector T cells. In line with this phenotype, most of the WT1- and proteinase-reactive T cells were granzyme B(+). These results provide for the first time evidence for spontaneous T-cell reactivity against defined antigens in AML patients. These data therefore support the immunogenicity of WT1 and proteinase 3 in acute leukemia patients and the potential usefulness of these antigens for leukemia vaccines.
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PMID:CD8 T-cell responses to Wilms tumor gene product WT1 and proteinase 3 in patients with acute myeloid leukemia. 1220 Mar 77

The Wilms tumor gene WT1 is expressed in leukemias and various kinds of solid tumors, including lung and breast cancer, and exerts an oncogenic function in these malignancies, suggesting that WT1 protein is a novel, overexpressed tumor antigen. The WT1 protein, in fact, is an attractive tumor rejection antigen in animal models. Stimulation in vitro of peripheral blood mononuclear cells with HLA-A*2402--and HLA-A*0201--restricted 9-mer WT1 peptides elicits WT1-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTLs), and the CTLs kill endogenously WT1-expressing leukemia or solid tumor cells. Furthermore, WT1 immunoglobulin M (IgM) and IgG antibodies are detected in patients with hematopoietic malignancies such as acute myeloid leukemia, chronic myeloid leukemia, and myelodysplastic syndromes, indicating that WT1 protein overexpressed by leukemia cells is indeed immunogenic. Taken together, these results demonstrate that WT1 protein is a promising tumor antigen for cancer immunotherapy against leukemias and various kinds of solid tumors, including lung and breast cancer.
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PMID:Cancer immunotherapy targeting WT1 protein. 1221 10

In order to verify if quantitative assessment of the WT1 transcript amount by the real time quantitative PCR (RQ-PCR) can be used as a marker for minimal residual disease detection, the WT1 transcript amount was determined in BM and PB samples of patients with myeloid and lymphoid acute leukemia, in normal controls, in regenerating bone marrow samples and in purified CD34-positive cells from normal subjects. In 10 patients bearing a fusion gene transcript suitable for minimal residual disease quantitative assessment, we performed a simultaneous analysis of the WT1 and of the fusion-gene transcript at sequential time intervals during follow-up. Sequential WT1 analysis was also performed in five AML patients lacking additional molecular markers. The data obtained show that normal and regenerating BM samples and purified CD34-positive cells consistently express minimal amounts of WT1 transcript and that this is extremely low and frequently undetectable in normal PB. By contrast, high levels of WT1 expression are present in the BM and PB samples of all acute leukemia (AL) cases at diagnosis. The WT1 levels during follow-up were found to follow the pattern of the other molecular markers (fusion gene transcripts) used for MRD monitoring and increased WT1expression in the BM and/or PB during follow-up of AL patients was always found to be predictive of an impending hematological relapse.
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PMID:Quantitative assessment of WT1 expression by real time quantitative PCR may be a useful tool for monitoring minimal residual disease in acute leukemia patients. 1235 65

In acute-type leukemia, no method for the prediction of relapse following allogeneic stem cell transplantation based on minimal residual disease (MRD) levels is established yet. In the present study, MRD in 72 cases of allogeneic transplantation for acute myeloid leukemia, acute lymphoid leukemia, and chronic myeloid leukemia (accelerated phase or blast crisis) was monitored frequently by quantitating the transcript of WT1 gene, a "panleukemic MRD marker," using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Based on the negativity of expression of chimeric genes, the background level of WT1 transcripts in bone marrow following allogeneic transplantation was significantly decreased compared with the level in healthy volunteers. The probability of relapse occurring within 40 days significantly increased step-by-step according to the increase in WT1 expression level (100% for 1.0 x 10(-2)-5.0 x 10(-2), 44.4% for 4.0 x 10(-3)-1.0 x 10(-2), 10.2% for 4.0 x 10(-4)-4.0 x 10(-3), and 0.8% for < 4.0 x 10(-4)) when WT1 level in K562 was defined as 1.0). WT1 levels in patients having relapse increased exponentially with a constant doubling time. The doubling time of the WT1 level in patients for whom the discontinuation of immunosuppressive agents or donor leukocyte infusion was effective was significantly longer than that for patients in whom it was not (P <.05). No patients with a short doubling time of WT1 transcripts (< 13 days) responded to these immunomodulation therapies. These findings strongly suggest that the WT1 assay is very useful for the prediction and management of relapse following allogeneic stem cell transplantation regardless of the presence of chimeric gene markers.
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PMID:The usefulness of monitoring WT1 gene transcripts for the prediction and management of relapse following allogeneic stem cell transplantation in acute type leukemia. 1283 31

Ten patients with acute myelogenous leukemia or high risk myelodysplastic syndrome who had achieved complete remission following treatment with the CAG regimen were monitored for peripheral blood WT1 expression mRNA levels. Induction therapy with the CAG regimen did not seem to be enough to lower WT1 expression levels to the normal range. In comparison with patients who received intensive chemotherapy for post-remission therapy, those who received only CAG therapy showed higher levels of WT1 expression and more easily relapsed. These data suggest that CAG therapy alone might not be sufficient to maintain complete remission and WT1 monitoring could be useful in the choice of appropriate post-remission therapy after achieving remission with the CAG regimen.
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PMID:[WT1 gene expression in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia or high risk myelodysplastic syndrome successfully treated with the CAG regimen]. 1246 34

The WT1 tumor-suppressor gene is expressed by many forms of acute myeloid leukemia. Inhibition of this expression can lead to the differentiation and reduced growth of leukemia cells and cell lines, suggesting that WT1 participates in regulating the proliferation of leukemic cells. However, the role of WT1 in normal hematopoiesis is not well understood. To investigate this question, we have used murine cells in which the WT1 gene has been inactivated by homologous recombination. We have found that cells lacking WT1 show deficits in hematopoietic stem cell function. Embryonic stem cells lacking WT1, although contributing efficiently to other organ systems, make only a minimal contribution to the hematopoietic system in chimeras, indicating that hematopoietic stem cells lacking WT1 compete poorly with healthy stem cells. In addition, fetal liver cells lacking WT1 have an approximately 75% reduction in erythroid blast-forming unit (BFU-E), erythroid colony-forming unit (CFU-E), and colony-forming unit-granulocyte macrophage-erythroid-megakaryocyte (CFU-GEMM). However, transplantation of fetal liver hematopoietic cells lacking WT1 will repopulate the hematopoietic system of an irradiated adult recipient in the absence of competition. We conclude that the absence of WT1 in hematopoietic cells leads to functional defects in growth potential that may be of consequence to leukemic cells that have alterations in the expression of WT1.
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PMID:Role of the WT1 tumor suppressor in murine hematopoiesis. 1246 34

The WT1 gene encoding a zinc finger DNA-binding protein was identified as a tumor suppressor gene being responsible for Wilms' tumor. Recently, aberrant expression of WT1 gene and an inverse correlation between its expression levels and prognosis have been demonstrated in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), suggesting it is a novel tumor marker for leukemic blast cells. To explore whether the WT1 may be used as a marker for detection of minimal residual disease (MRD) in acute leukemia, we examined the sensitivity of the nested reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) by using WT1 gene primers in comparison with tumor-specific marker genes, such as PML/RARalpha gene in NB4 cells or bcr-abl gene in K562 cells. In all samples, the integrity of RNA was confirmed by amplification of the c-abl gene as an internal control. The limits in amount of leukemic cells detected by two-step RT-PCR with primers for WT1 or tumor specific fusion gene were 10(-4) and 10(-5) in NB4 cells and 10(-3) to 10(-4) and higher than 10(-6) for K562 cells, respectively. None was WT1 positive in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (MNC) from 29 blood donors, while bone marrow MNCs from eight of 21 cases (38.1%) of nonmalignant patient WT1 gene expression were found. Our results suggested that monitoring of WT1 expression makes it possible to rapidly assess the effectiveness of treatment and follow up MRD in AML cases regardless of the presence or absence of tumor-specific markers.
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PMID:[Expression of the Wilms' Tumor Gene WT1 and Detection of Minimal Residual Disease in Acute Leukemia] 1257 85

We have developed a sensitive, competitive, nested reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) titration assay that quantifies the number of Wilm's tumour (WT1) gene transcripts in bone marrow (BM) and peripheral blood (PB), coupled with a competitive RT-PCR protocol for the ABL gene as control. We studied BM/PB samples from 107 acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) patients and 22 acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) patients at presentation and detected the WT1 gene in > 90% of patients by a qualitative assay. Quantitative analysis of WT1 transcript at presentation in 66 patients (52 AML, 14 ALL) correlated significantly with remission rate, disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) (P = 0.003). WT1 levels were normalized to 105ABL transcripts. Within good and standard cytogenetic risk groups, high WT1 levels correlated with poorer outcome. Serial quantification was performed in 35 patients (28 AML, seven ALL); those with less than 103 copies of WT1 after induction and second consolidation chemotherapy had significantly better DFS and OS. Fourteen patients have relapsed with a median complete remission duration of 12 (range 4-49) months. We detected a rise in WT1 levels in nine out of 14 patients, 2-4 months before the onset of haematological relapse, whereas in the remaining five patients, WT1 levels remained persistently high during the disease course. WT1 levels were lower in PB than in BM, but mirrored changes in the BM samples and were equally informative. We suggest that WT1 is a useful molecular target to monitor minimal residual disease in acute leukaemia, especially in cases without a specific fusion gene.
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PMID:Prognostic significance of quantitative analysis of WT1 gene transcripts by competitive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction in acute leukaemia. 1451 Sep 42


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