The Study of SALL4 Gene and BMI-1 Gene Expression in Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patients

Abstract

Background In acute myeloid leukemia (AML), many genes have been studied as prognostic markers. SALL4 is expressed constitutively in human leukemia cell lines and primary AML cells. BMI-1 is expressed highly in purified hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), and its expression declines with differentiation. Objective To study the expression levels of SALL4 and BMI-1 and their clinical significance in patients with AML. Methods The study was performed with 60 patients newly diagnosed with AML and 50 control individuals. SALL4 and BMI-1 expression detection were performed using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results The expression of SALL4 and BMI-1 was significantly higher in cases of AML and showed a strong association with failure to achieve complete remission (CR) or with relapse (P = .02, P = .03, respectively). In multivariate analysis, these genes were the most powerful independent predictors of poor prognosis (P = .01 for SALL4, P = .02 for BMI-1). Conclusion SALL4 and BMI-1 are significant prognostic factors in AML and could be strong targets for novel types of therapy.

SALL4 Oncogene in Acute Myeloid Leukemia: Expression Levels and Prognostic Impact

“…We found that SALL4 gene level was highly expressed among AML group with median value 18.46 (IQR=11.52-83.09) compared to low expression among control group with median value 1.01 (IQR=0.92-1.05) (p <0.001). A previous studies supported our results and showed a significant higher expression of SALL4 among AML patients compared to the control group (p= 0.001) [23] . Moreover, the results of another study concluded that none of the studied controls expressed SALL4 > 1.0 RQ while the cases showed a significant higher expression (p< 0.001) [24] .…”

“…On studying SALL4 gene expression in AML patients with different FAB subtypes, the highest expression of SALL4 gene level was encountered among patients diagnosed as AML M4 (median = 54.7), followed by AML M2 then M5 then AML M1 (median = 51.47, 22.07 and 21.69, respectively) while the least expression was noticed among patients diagnosed as AML M3 (median = 14.89), yet with no statistical significance (p = 0.7). Partially supporting our results, in their study, Swelem et al [23] found that, in comparison to M1 and M2, SALL4 expression was significantly higher in M4 and M5. Chen et al [26] , on the other hand, discovered that SALL4 gene expression varied considerably with AML FAB subtypes.…”

SALL4 Oncogenic Function in Cancers: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Relevance

“…A previous study has found that indole inhibits the expression of SALL4 mRNA in APL cells and that SALL4 can be regarded as a target in APL [187]. SALL4 is positively related to Bmi-1, which is expressed at markedly higher levels in AML patients [188]. SALL4 mRNA is highly expressed in AML, while it is little expressed in normal hematopoiesis [33].…”

The new advance of SALL4 in cancer: Function, regulation, and implication

“…SALL4 promotes self‐renewal and inhibits the differentiation of HSCs in normal hematopoiesis 30 . In human HSCs and leukemic cells, SALL4 increases the expression of Bmi‐1 24,77,78 . Knockdown of SALL4 reduces Bmi‐1 levels in breast cancer cells 79 .…”

“…30 In human HSCs and leukemic cells, SALL4 increases the expression of Bmi-1. 24,77,78 Knockdown of SALL4 reduces Bmi-1 levels in breast cancer cells. 79 Furthermore, SALL4 and Bmi-1 expression levels are significantly increased in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma cells, indicating a positive correlation between SALL4 and Bmi-1 expression.…”