Telomerase (hTERT) Overexpression Reveals a Promising Prognostic Biomarker and Therapeutical Target in Different Clinical Subtypes of Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia

• Autor(a) principal: Nogueira, Beatriz Maria Dias
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Pantoja, Laudreísa da Costa, Silva, Emerson Lucena da, Mello Júnior, Fernando Augusto Rodrigues, Teixeira, Eliel Barbosa, Wanderley, Alayde Vieira, Maués, Jersey Heitor da Silva, Moraes Filho, Manoel Odorico de, Moraes, Maria Elisabete Amaral de, Montenegro, Raquel Carvalho, Khayat, André Salim, Nunes, Caroline Aquino Moreira
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC)
• Texto Completo: http://www.repositorio.ufc.br/handle/riufc/61922
• topic: Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; Leucemia Linfoblástica; Gene Expression; Expressão Gênica; Telomerase

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) is a neoplasm of the hematopoietic system defined as a clonal expansion of an abnormal lymphoid precursor cell. It mostly affects children under five years of age and is the most common tumor to afflict pediatric patients. The expression of the human telomerase gene (hTERT) in patients with ALL has been studied as a biomarker and could become a new therapeutic target. We evaluate the role of hTERT gene expression in ALL pediatric patients, through quantitative real-time PCR technique, and the possible correlation between hTERT expression and clinical variables: gender, age, white blood cells (WBC), gene fusions, and immunophenotyping. The analysis between healthy controls and ALL patients (N = 244) was statistically significant (p < 0.001), demonstrating hTERT overexpression in these patients. In comparison with the usual set of clinical variables, the data were not statistically significant (p > 0.05), indicating that hTERT is equally overexpressed among patients regardless of gender, age, gene fusions, and immunophenotyping. Moreover, patients who presented a higher hTERT expression level had a significant (p < 0.0001) lower overall survival rate. In summary, hTERT expression emerges as an important molecular pathway in leukemogenesis regardless patient’s clinical variables, thus, the data here presented pointed it as a valuable biomarker in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia and a promising target for new therapeutic and prognostic measures.