Frequency of Mutant p53 Among Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Patients in Basrah, Iraq

摘要

A study was carried out to investigate the status of p53 proteins and their relation to the occurrence of TEL-AML-1 translocation in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) attending the oncology unit at Basrah maternity and children hospital during the period from May 2009 to April 2010. A total of 100 blood samples were collected from 40 newly diagnosed ALL cases, and 60 healthy children served as controls. Anti-p53 antibody was detected by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and TEL-AML-1 fusion gene was determined by reversetranscriptase polymerase reaction (RT-PCR) on RNA extracted from fresh blood samples. The overall proportion of anti-p53 was 20% in the leukemic patients, whereas none of the healthy control group showed anti-p53 positivity. This difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). According to the French-American-British (FAB) classification, 75% of the anti-p53 positive cases were classified as L2 stage ALL. There was a significant difference (P < 0.05) between standard and high-risk groups of ALL patients in the frequency of anti-p53: 40% of high-risk group members had anti-p53 compared to 8% in the standard risk patients. There was no association (P>0.05) between TEL-AML-1 translocation and anti-p53. None of the standard risk patients with positive TEL-AML-1 fusion gene displayed the anti-p53 while 33.3% of TEL-AML-1 positive with high risk displayed the antip53 antibody.