Mahmoud M. Abdelfattah1, Magda M. Assem2, Asmaa A. El Leithy3, Rasha Mahmoud Allam2, Naglaa M. Hassan2, Reham Helwa1
1Molecular Cancer Biology group, Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. 2National Cancer Institute, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. 3College of Biotechnology, Misr University for Science and Technology, Giza, Egypt.
Summary
Purpose: Galectins family are animal lectins with a broad range of cellular functions. Many galectins are repeatedly reported in several physiological changes and diseases including cancers. In acute myeloid leukemia (AML), there is a big focus on galectins 3 and 9, but not the other galectins.
Methods: Bone marrow (BM) and corresponding peripheral blood (PB) were collected from recently diagnosed 45 adult patients with de novo AML and 8 normal individuals. The profiling was done using qRT-PCR for eight members of the galectins’ family.
Results: Our results showed dysregulation of several galectins in AML patients. Upregulation of galectin 1 has shown a significant correlation to monocytic AML, as it was more upregulated in M4 and M5 (p=0.015 and p=0.006 in peripheral blood and bone marrow respectively), as well as positive CD4, CD11c, and CD64. The same finding was encountered with galectin 2 where its overexpression was also a sign of monocytic AML. The other galectins are statistically significant with many clinicopathological features indicating their clinical significance. The expression of MHC class II is significantly associated with overall survival (OS) advantage (p<0.001).
Conclusions: Galectin 1 and 2 could be markers for monocytic AML. The presence of MHC class II may be good prognostic factor and showing higher overall survival.
Key words: galectins, AML, bone marrow, peripheral blood, qRT-PCR.
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