The detection of WT1 gene expression in peripheral blood of acute leukemia patients with fluorescence quantitative RT-PCR

Objective To understand WT1 gene expression levels in peripheral blood of acute leukemia patients.Methods Fluorescence quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (FQ-RT-PCR) method was established for detecting WT1 gene expression levels in peripheral blood in 114 patients with acute leukemia, 26 non-leukemia patients and 36 normal human with PE ABI 7700 PCR.Results The expression levels of WT1 in newly diagnosed leukemia patients (22 AML and 15 ALL)were 10 5～10 6 copies /μg RNA; those of 26 AML and 19 ALL with partial remission were 10 2～10 4 copies /μg RNA; those of 17 AML and 13 AL with complete remission were 0～10 2 copies /μg RNA.Conclusion Significant expression levels of WT1 in acute leukemia were strikingly higher than in non-leukemia and normal human which were undetectable or lower expression. WT1 can be a marker for detecting minimal residual disease and evaluating therapy efficacy in leukemia.