OBJECTIVETo investigate the expression of LNK gene in patients with acute leukemia (AL) and its correlation with the clinical characteristics.

METHODSReal-time quantitative RT-PCR was used to detect the level of LNK mRNA in bone marrow samples from 80 patients diagnosed as AL(42 cases of ALL, and 38 cases of AML), and its relevance with clinical indicators was statistically analyzed. Western blot was used to detect the expression of LNK protein. The bone marrow samples of 16 healthy volunteers were used as the controls.

RESULTSThe LNK mRNA levels in ALL and AML groups were significantly higher than that in control group (P=0.007, P=0.021) and there was no statistical difference between ALL and AML groups. The LNK levels in ALL and AML groups possitively correlated with the risk of patients (P=0.000, P=0.04, r=0.5, r=0.386), And the LNK levels in high risk ALL and AML groups were significantly higher than that in control group (P=0.035, P=0.032), the LNK levels in intermediate risk of AML and ALL groups (P=0.239,P=0.609) and the LNK level in standard risk (P=0.974, P=1) were all higher than that in control group, there was no statistianl significance. but the risks of different groups showed no statistical significance. The LNK protein level in patients with acute leukemia was higher than that in control group.

CONCLUSIONThe expression level of LNK gene in AL patients is higher than that in healthy people, and the expression level of LNK gene positively correlates with the risk of patients.