ObjectiveTo study the effects of chemotherapy on growth development and endocrine function of long-survived children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Methods30 ALL patients who were received standard chemotherapy and survived more than five years were enrolled in this study. Their growth and development data and endocrine function examination were investigated. ResultsThrough testing,except two cases of height more than two standard deviation above,the others were all within the normal range; BMI exceeded bid in 1, and the rest were in the normal range;The results of sex hormones examination were consistent with age and Tanner installment, the girls appeared secondary sex characteristics in 9 years old or so,menstruation in 13 years old. Boys appeared sec-ondary sex characteristics around 10 years old;Cortisol and promote adrenal cortical hormone with 2 cases of obese children were in the normal range,but c-peptide and insulin were elevatory;The results of IGF-1 were in the normal range. ConclusionChemotherapy had no significant effect on growth development and endocrine function for patients with ALL.

Objective To research the expression,methylated regulation and clinical significances of miR-34b in chidren with acute leukemia(AL).Methods The methylation status of miR-34b promoter CpG islands were detected with methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP) in patients with AL.Then the expression of miR-34b was compared,which was detected by Taqman real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR),between the AL patients and normal group,in order to analyze their relationship with the clinical indicators.Resuits In 8 leukemia cell lines (U937,HL-60,MV4-11,M2R,K562,Raji,CCRF,DAMI) showed methylation,the positive rate of the methyl was 100％.Thirty-one acute lymphocytic leukemia(ALL) pediatric patients were newly diagnosed,and 24 cases showed methylation,the methylation positive rate 77.42％ (24/31).Nineteen acute myeloid leukemia(AML) patients were newly diagnosed,and 8 cases showed methylation,the methylation positive rate was 42.11％ (8/19 cases).There was no methylation in the 23 cases of normal children.The relative expression levels of miR-34b in the normal group,the group of leukemia cell lines,the group of ALL pediatric patients with newly diagnosed,the AML group and the group with mixed lineage leukemia gene rearrangement MLL+ were 5.22 ± 1.15,0.03 ± 0.03,1.65 ± 0.69,0.18 ± 0.06,0.64 ± 0.34,respectively.The findings indicated that there were significant differences in the relative expression levels of miR-34b between the normal group and the group of leukemia cell lines,the ALL group,the AML group,and the MLL+ group.The relative expression and methylated level of miR-34b had no statistically difference in gender,age at diagnosis,WBC count,chromosome,fusion gene,MLL gene rearrangement,and the minimal residual disease(LDH) levels in newly diagnosed AML patients(all P ＞ 0.05).And the relative expression and methylated level of miR-34b had no statistically difference in gender,age at diagnosis,WBC count,immunophenotype,chromosome,fusion gene,MLL gene rearrangement,TEL/AML1 gene,risk stratification,the minimal residual disease (MRD) in thirty-three days and the LDH levels in newly diagnosed ALL patients(all P ＞ 0.05).But as for the response to prednisone experiment,there was a significant difference between the sensitive group and the non sensitive group(P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions The expression level of miR-34b in AL was significantly lower and it was regulated by methylation mechanism,which implies that miR-34b may play a role of a tumor suppressor gene in the pathogenesis of leukemia.MiR-34b may affect the early treatment response of ALL patients,and it may be an indicator of risk stratification and poor prognosis in pediatric ALL.

Objective To evaluate the prognostic factors in predicting relapse of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) treated with CCLG-2008 protocol. Methods From December 1st 2008 and December 31st 2012, 358 patients diagnosed with ALL and treated with the CCLG-ALL 2008 protocol were enrolled in this study. All patients were followed up until September 1st, 2015. Prognostic impact of clinical features, response to treatment, biological features were analyzed and multivariate analysis of predicted value was performed by Cox-regression analysis. Results After treatment of CCLG-ALL 2008 protocol, 79 patients suffered from relapse. The relapse rate in the standard-risk, intermediate-risk and the high-risk groups were 13.3%, 17.6%, and 41.3%, respectively (P?100×109/L, non-remission in 15th day of induction (M3), the level of minimal residual disease (MRD) on 12w (12w-MRD)?>10-4 were signiifcantly higher, their corresponding hazard ratio were 3.17 (1.58?~?6.36), 1.87 (1.07?~?3.30), and 1.90 (1.12?~?3.20), respectively (P?10-4 were the independent prognostic factors for childhood B-ALL.

Objective:To explore the expression of insulin-like growth factor-binding protein related protein 1(IGFBP-rP1) gene in children with acute leukemia and its potential significance. Methods:Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (RFQ-PCR) method was used for detecting IGFBP-rP1 mRNA expression in bone marrow (BM) cells of 168 children with acute leukemia. The results were compared with those of 30 non-leukemia children in control group. Meanwhile the relationship between IGFBP-rP1 expression level and clinical prognosis was analyzed according to clinical prognostic factors of children acute leukemia. Results:Expression level of IGFBP-rP1 in initial acute leukemia children was significantly higher than that of non leukemia children (P<0.01). It was higher in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) than in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)(P =0.013). The transcription level of IGFBP-rP1 mRNA in patients who had complete remission (CR) were lowest, which was nearly the same as non-leukemia childish patients. It increased again when leukemia relapsed, which was significantly higher than that in CR. However, as far as ALL was concerned, IGFBP-rP1 expression levels had no significant difference between newly-diagnosed, complete remission, and recurrent groups.Conclusion:IGFBP-rP1 may be involved in the initiation and development of childish leukemia. It has the potential to become a new target for AML treatment.

OBJECTIVETo study the expression level and CpG island methylation status of miR-34b in leukemia cell lines and to research the effect of DNA methylation on the proliferation of leukemia cells regulated by miR-34b.

METHODTaqman real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was carried out to detect the relative expression of miR-34b in control group (bone marrow cells of 20 children without blood disease) and 8 leukemia cell lines (U937, HL-60, MV4-11, M2R, K562, Raji, CCRF, DAMI). Methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP) was carried out to detect the methylation differences of miR-34b in control group (Bone marrow cells of 23 children without blood disease), 8 leukemia cell lines. HL-60 and K562 were treated with methyltransferase inhibitor (5-aza-2-dC) for further detection of its methylation status and expression of miR-34b. Hsa-miR-34b mimics was transfected into K562 cell by liposome, the transfection efficiency was detected by flow cytometry. The cell proliferation of hsa-miR-34b transfected group in each stage was measured with CCK-8 assay, and then compared with non-transfected group and negative control group.

RESULTThe relative expression level of miR-34b in the group of children without blood disease and the group of leukemia cell lines were 5.22 ± 1.15, 0.03 ± 0.03. The results showed that, the group of leukemia cell lines was significantly different from the control group (t = 4.538, P < 0.01) . Eight leukemia cell lines showed methylation, the positive rate of the methyl was 100%. There was no methylation in the 23 cases of control group. After leukemia cell lines HL-60 and K562 were treated with 5-aza-2-dC, the methylated bands became obviously weakened, and the relative expression levels of miR-34b substantially increased 49.5 times and 18.8 times respectively. After hsa-miR-34b mimics was transfected into K562 cell by liposome, its transfection efficiency detected by flow cytometry was 61% and the cell proliferation was measured with CCK-8 assay from which it was found that the cell proliferation was significantly suppressed compared with the control group at 48 h (t = 9.303, P < 0.01), 72 h (t = 65.617, P < 0.01), 96 h (t = 36.878, P < 0.01) and 120 h (t = 18.748, P < 0.01) in hsa-miR-34b transfected group, with the inhibition rate of 12.2% (48 h), 45.7% (72 h), 32.5% (96 h) and 22.9% (120 h).

CONCLUSIONThe hypermethylation of promoter leads to decrease in the expression levels of miR-34b in leukemia cell lines, which attenuate mechanism of proliferative inhibition may be one of the reasons of occurrence or development of childhood leukemia.

Azacitidine ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; genetics ; CpG Islands ; DNA Methylation ; HL-60 Cells ; Humans ; Leukemia ; genetics ; MicroRNAs ; genetics ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Transfection

Objective To evaluate the predictive role of TEL/AML1 fusion gene in protocol CCLG-ALL-2008 and to identify relevant factors influencing the outcome of ALL with TEL/AML1 fusion gene. Methods Ninety-nine patients with ALL harboring TEL/AML1 fusion gene (positive) and 329 cases without any specific fusion genes (negative) at diagnosis of B-lineage ALL from June 2008 to December 2014 were enrolled and their clinical and biological features were analyzed. Following-up ended in October 2015, the survival status was calculated by K-M curve and prognostic factors were analyzed by COX model. Results There were no differences between the two groups in age, white blood cell at the diagnostic stage, and treatment responses at 4 time points, namely, prednisone good response on day 8, M3 status of BM on D15, and the minimal residual disease (MRD) more than 1.0×10-3 on day 33 and 12th week. During the follow-up period, the relapse rate was lower in the positive group than that in the negative group (14/99 vs 69/329), the mortality rate of the negative group was twice of that in the positive group (55/329 vs 8/99). The five-year overall survival (OS) rate, relapse-free survival (RFS) rate and event-free survival (EFS) rate of the positive group were (86.1 ± 4.9)%, (80.7 ± 5.1)% and (78.9 ± 5.1)%, respectively, and (79 ±2.8)%, (72± 3.1)%, and (69.6+ 3.1)% for the negative group as well. COX regression analysis indicated that relapse and MRD level at the 12th week were independent prognostic factors on OS, RFS, and EFS (P<0.05) for the two groups. Conclusions TEL/AML1 fusion gene could be regarded as a relatively good indicator of risks in ALL children treated by CCLG-ALL-2008 protocol. ALL patients with TEL/AML1 are recommended to receive more intensive therapy including hematopoietic stem cell transplantation when the patients were high level of MRD on the 12th week after treatment.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinical and biological characteristics of childhood acute myeloid leukemia(AML)with 8;21 translocation.

METHODSA retrospective analysis including clinical information, cell morphology, chromosome, immunophenotype and molecular biology was performed on 41 cases of childhood t(8;21)AML. The control group included 19 cases of AML without t(8;21) translocation detected during the same period.

RESULTSThe 41 cases of t(8;21)AML accounted for 68.3% of 60 continuous childhood AML patients. Among them, classical t(8;21) translocation was seen in 29 cases; variant t(8;21) translocation, simple 8q-, near-tetraploidy characterized by the duplication of t(8;21) translocation each came into view in 2 cases; and cryptic t(8;21) translocation was seen in 6 cases. Thirty seven cases (80.4%) belonged to M2 subtype of AML. Most of them had the morphological changes such as the leukemia cells' indent nucleus with a light stain region of perinucleus, basophilic cytoplasm, differentiation with maturation, megaloblastoid changes and nuclear-cytoplasm imbalance; the high expression of CD13 antigen; and the AML1/ETO fusion transcript in 23 cases examined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay, including 6 cases with normal karyotype. The difference in complete remission rate between t(8;21) positive patients group and t(8;21) negative patients group was not significant in statistics (82.4% vs 75%, P>0.05). However the difference in recurring rate of the leukemia was statistically significant (10.7% vs 41.7%, P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONt(8;21)AML is the most frequent type of childhood AML. It is predominantly associated with M2 subtype of AML and has unique morphological, immunological prognostic features .

Acute Disease ; Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 21 ; genetics ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 8 ; genetics ; Female ; Humans ; Karyotyping ; Leukemia, Myeloid ; genetics ; pathology ; Male ; Retrospective Studies ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Translocation, Genetic