Wilms’ Tumor Gene (WT1) Expression Correlates with Vascular Epithelial Growth Factor (VEGF) in Newly Acute Leukemia Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy

Abstract

<b>Background:</b> Today, leukemia is one of the biggest problems worldwide. The Wilms’ tumor gene (WT1)and the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene are highly expressed in patients with various cancers.This study concerned the relationship between expression of WT1 and VEGF in patients with acute leukemia.Materials and <br/><b>Methods</b>: We evaluated expression of WT1 mRNA and VEGF mRNA using real-time quantitativeRT-PCR in the peripheral blood (PB) of 8 newly diagnosed AML and 4 newly diagnosed ALL patients, seriallymonitored for 2 months. A further 12 normal PB samples served as controls. <br/><b>Results</b>: In the patient group, incomparison with the normal ranges, WT1 and VEGF gene expression was increased, the average values forthe expression of these two genes being 0.2852±0.11 and 0.2029±0.018, respectively. While was no significantrelevance between the two genes pre-treatment, a positive link between the two genes in 75% of patients withAML was noted during the procedure of chemotherapy, whereas in 75% of patients with ALL an antiparallelassociation was observed. <br/><b>Conclusions</b>: Leukemia is associated with production of WT1, which may affect theexpression of VEGF.