Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - National Cancer Institute - Department of Clinical Pathology

Background: Recently, growing evidence has implicated specific miRNAs in the pathogenesis of leukemia and circulating miRNAs could serve as noninvasive biomarkers for detection of leukemia. In tumor cells, miR-128 expression is dysregulated through a variety of genetic and epigenetic events. Deregulation of Let-7 in various cancers suggest that Let-7 may have different functions in different diseases or in different cell contexts. Aim of the work: to evaluate the expression of both miRNAs, miR-128 and Let-7b, in a newly diagnosed bone marrow samples from children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) and to correlate their expression levels with clinical and Laboratory data. Material and methods: Detection of micro-RNA 128 and Let-7b using RTPCR in 70 newly diagnosed ALL pediatric patients and 7 age and sex comparable healthy control. Results: we found that miR128 was significantly upregulated in pediatric ALL bone marrow (BM) samples compared to control BM samples (P<0.001).however, no statistical significant difference in Let -7b expression between pediatric ALL group compared to control group (P=0.126). Conclusion: miR-128 was found to be expressed at a significantly higher level in ALL than in normal subjects, which may help to provide new insights into the diagnosis of childhood ALL and that the role of Let -7b has to be verified by further large scale sample and further studies

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