Prognostic impact of WT1 expression prior to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in children with malignant hematological diseases

摘要

Purpose Malignant hematological diseases represent the most common pediatric cancer. As they cannot always be cured by chemotherapy alone, leukemia and myelodys-plastic syndrome (MDS) are frequent medical indications for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, yet even this treatment is not capable of preventing relapse for certain. Therefore, molecular markers are used to monitor minimal residual disease (MRD) to be enabled to react early to an impeding relapse. As specific markers are not always available, Wilms' tumor gene 1 (WT1) has been suggested as a universal marker, but has not yet been established clinically.