关键词: 白血病, 骨髓, 单核细胞, TAp63基因

Abstract: Objective　To investigate the expression of TAp63 gene in bone marrow mononuclear cells in children with acute leukemia（AL） and its clinical significance.Methods　The AL group included 104 relapsed or treatment-naive children with AL who were admitted to the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University and Zhengzhou Children's Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.The group included 80 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia（ALL） 〔61 cases of acute B lymphoblastic leukemia（B-ALL） and 19 cases of acute T lymphoblastic leukemia（T-ALL）〕，and 24 with acute non-lymphocytic leukemia（ANLL）．There were 90 incipient cases（18 high-risk cases and 72 low-risk cases） and 14 recurrent cases in the AL group.The control group was composed of 36 children with non-malignant hematological diseases who were admitted to the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University and Zhengzhou Children's Hospital during the same period.Semi-quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction（RT-PCR） was used to detect the expression of TAp63 gene in the different groups.Results　In the AL group，86（82.7%） of 104 children had positive expression of TAp63 gene，and the TAp63 mRNA relative expression was（0.61±0.19）．In the control group，there were no patients with positive expression of TAp63 gene.There was no significant difference in the positive expression rate of TAp63 gene between ALL children and ANLL children（P>0.05）；however，the TAp63 mRNA relative expression was significantly higher in ALL children than in ANLL children（P<0.05）．The positive expression rate of TAp63 gene did not differ significantly between incipient cases and relapsed cases（P>0.05）；however，TAp63 mRNA relative expression was higher in relapsed cases than in incipient cases（P<0.05）．B-ALL children had a higher positive expression rate of TAp63 gene and TAp63 mRNA relative expression than T-ALL children（P<0.05）．There was no significant difference in the positive expression rate of TAp63 gene between high-risk cases and low-risk cases in incipient children（P>0.05），whereas the TAp63 mRNA relative expression was higher in high-risk children than in low-risk incipient children（P<0.05）．There was no significant difference in positive expression rate of TAp63 gene between children with and without complete remission（CR）（P>0.05），whereas the TAp63 mRNA relative expression was higher in children without CR（P<0.05）．Conclusion　Overexpression of the TAp63 gene may contribute to the pathogenesis and progression of childhood acute leukemia.TAp63 gene is a potential biomarker to monitor the efficacy of chemotherapy.Patients with high expression of TAp63 gene have a higher risk of relapse；the protein may be a promising prognostic factor for AL in children.

Key words: Leukemia, Bone marrow, Monocytes, TAp63 gene