Expression of HOXA5 and HOXA9 and their significance in a cohort of acute myeloid leukemia Egyptian patients / Shirihan Mahmoud Anwar Mohamed Mahgoub ; Supervised Hala Mohammad Farawela , Hala Aly Abdel Rahman , Hamdy Mohammed Zawam

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Clinical and Chemical Pathology

HOX genes altered expression especially that located in HOXA and HOXB clusters are implicated in hematopoietic stem cells differentiation abnormalities resulting in development of leukemia. The aim of this work was to study HOXA5 and HOXA9 expression in de novo AML patients by real time quantitative PCR (RQ-PCR) with correlation between the gene expression and various clinical features. This study included 109 AML patients and 24 non-malignant subjects as control group. The results showed that HOXA9 gene was upregulated in AML patients by 3 folds compared to control group (median 2-xxCT 3.0682), while HOXA5 showed no upregulated expression (median 2-xxCT 0.8499). A significantly higher median fold change of both HOXA5 and HOXA9 genes expression was found in intermediate/ unfavorable risk groups than in the favorable risk group (P=ą<0.001, P=<0.001 respectively). A significantly higher median fold change of both HOXA5 and HOXA9 genes expression was found in patients with mutated FLT3/ITD than in those with wild form (P=0.021, P=0.008 respectively). Expression levels of HOXA5 and HOXA9 genes were significantly correlated (r=0.876, P=<0.001). Each of HOXA5 and HOXA9 genes expression correlated significantly with expression level of FLT3 gene (P=0.011, P=0.004 respectively). Significant correlation was detected between each of HOXA5 and HOXA9 genes and patients{u2019} age (P=0.034, P=0.024 respectively). No significant relationship was found between both genes expression and response to therapy at day 21. Significantly lower HOXA5 and HOXA9 genes expression was found with longer disease free survival of patients

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