OBJECTIVETo investigate the expression of E2F1 gene in patients with acute leukemia(AL) and its clinical significance.

METHODSSeventy-two AL patients treated in March 2015 -March 2016 in our hospital were selected, and 24 healthy people were selected as controls. RT-PCR and Western blot were applied to determine the level of E2F1 gene transcription and expression, and the statistical analysis was performed to reveal the clinical value of E2F1 gene.

RESULTSThe relative expression levels of E2F1 gene and protein in bone marrow of AL patients was higher than that in control group (P<0.05). The levels of WBC, β-MG and LDH in the patients with high expression of E2F1 gene were higher than those in patients with low expression of E2F1 gene(P<0.05), but the E2F1 gene expression did not correlate with sex, fever, fatigue, bone marrow blast ratio, peripheral blood blasts ratio (P>0.05). The complete remission (CR) of patients with low expression of E2F1 was significantly higher than that of patients with high expression of E2F1(P<0.05). And the drug resistance in the patients with low expression of E2F1 gene was lower than that of patients with high expression of E2F1 gene (P<0.05). The expression level of E2F1 gene decreased significantly in patients with symptomatic remission after treatment (P<0.05). The expression levels of E2F1 gene in M1, M2 and M5 patients decreased significantly after treatment (P<0.05). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that OS and DFS in the patients with low expression of E2F1 gene were higher than those in patients with high expression (P<0.05). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that the age and E2F1 gene were the independent influencing factors of OS (P<0.05); the sex and E2F1 gene were the dependent factors of DFS (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe expression level of E2F1 gene in patients with AL has been found to be higher, the higher level of E2F1 gene closely relates with AL patients, E2F1 gene can be used as a biological target for the clinical treatment of AL.