Monitoring treatment response of childhood acute lymphocytic leukemia with certain molecular and biochemical markers

Abstract

Apoptosis is the primary mechanism through which most chemotherapeutic agents induce tumor cell death. The purpose of this study was to monitor the expression of pro- and anti-apoptotic proteins CD(95) , Bcl-2, as well as copper and zinc levels in the peripheral blood of children with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) prior to and 6 months after the beginning of chemotherapy. Blood parameters and bone marrow blast count were also assessed. Twenty of 26 patients who received treatment showed amelioration in apoptotic response, which is reflected in the elevation of CD(95) , whereas Bcl-2 protein was significantly lowered. In these patients, the elevated serum copper level was not significantly affected whereas the low serum zinc level was significantly raised. Improvement in blood parameters and bone marrow blast count were also achieved. Taken together, the data suggested that assessment of apoptosis signaling molecules might have a predictive impact on treatment outcome.

Expression of beclin-1 and apoptosis-related genes in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia

“…On the other hand, Bax mRNA levels were found to be higher in the ALL group than in the Remission group (p = 0.001). These Bax mRNA results are consistent with the results of Barakat et al [15] and Maia et al [18]. We found no similar studies on Bad mRNA.…”

“…Our findings showed that both Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL mRNA levels were significant-ly higher in the ALL group than in the Remission group (p = 0.001). The Bcl-2 results were consistent with what was found by Barakat et al [15], and Hogarth et al [16]. The increase in Bcl-2 con- centration in newly diagnosed ALL cases was suggested to be due to DNA hypomethylation at the 5 end of the Bcl-2 gene.…”

“…The increase in Bcl-2 con- centration in newly diagnosed ALL cases was suggested to be due to DNA hypomethylation at the 5 end of the Bcl-2 gene. The hypomethylation is associated with transcriptional upregulation of gene expression leading to inhibition of apoptosis [15]. We think that both Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL need further study, and could be of prognostic significance.…”

“…This is a comparative study conducted on 100 ALL patients divided into 2 groups, each group comprising 50 subjects. The first group represents acute lymphoblastic leukemia cases (age 8-15), while the second group represents cases in remission [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15].…”

Association of methionine synthase reductase (MTRR A66G) polymorphism with susceptibility to acute lymphoblastic leukemia

“…30 The analysis of complete blood count in ALL patients revealed the presence of leukocytosis, anemia, thrombocytopenia, and high blast percentage; these findings were consistent with the results of many studies in Sudan, Mexico, Iran, Egypt, and Pakistan. [31][32][33][34][35] In this study, B-ALL was more frequent than T-ALL; this outcome agrees with many studies conducted in Jordan, Brazil, Italy, Egypt, and Mexico; all of them reported higher frequency for B-ALL than T-ALL. 26,[36][37][38][39][40] On the other hand, our finding disagrees with two studies conducted in Iran and Pakistan; both found that the frequency of T-ALL is greater than B-ALL.…”