Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Science - Department of Biochemistry

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a biologically heterogeneous disease of the hematopoietic system characterized by clonal accumulation and expansion of immature myeloid cells within the bone marrow accompanied by impaired normal hematopoiesis. Investigating the etiological causes of AML and the molecular mechanisms, through which the involved genetic defects participate to the onset of the disease, should pave the road toward identifying and development of targeted therapies that carry the promise to increase the efficacy of the current management regimens. On the molecular level, various genes play a profound role in the progression of the disease (epigenetic effects) and such markers may have strong potential as molecular diagnostics. Among these markers are ASXL1, PHF6, BAX, and ARC. Fifty recently diagnosed AML patients were enrolled in this study, for whom we evaluated the expression levels of these markers, as determined by their mRNA levels, in AML patients as well as in normal control subjects. Our study indicated that PHF6 and ARC can be used as reliable, independent diagnostic markers for AML

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