The Change of Elf-1 Gene Expression Level in Hematological Malignancies.

Abstract 4704

Elf-1 (E-74-like factor 1), a special transcription factor of T cells, is a member of the Ets (E-26-specific) family. Elf-1 plays a critical role in the transcription of the TCR ζ-chain. Our previous studies showed that the low expression level of TCR ζ-chain in hematologic malignancies, in the present study, we farther analyzed the expression of Elf-1 in patients with hematologic malignancies. Real-time PCR with SYBR Green I technique was used for detecting Elf-1 expression level in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 33 patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) [including 17 cases with AML-M2 subtype (M2), 6 cases with (M3), 10 cases with (M5)], 49 patients with lymphoid malignancies [including T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) 7 cases, T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (T-NHL) 6 cases, B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) 10 cases, B-cell chronic lymphoblastic leukemia (B-CLL) 7 cases, B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL) 19 cases] and 20 healthy volunteers. β2-microglobulin gene (β2M) was used as an endogenous reference. Relative changes in Elf-1 expression level were used by the 2^-ΔCt×100% method. We found that the expression level of Elf-1 in 33 cases with AML (13.518±19.197%) was significant higher than those in the healthy control (2.044±1.321%) (P<0.01). However, the expression level of Elf-1 had no significant difference among the three AML subtypes (P>0.05). The expression level of Elf-1 in both T-cell lymphoid malignancies group (12.050±10.334%) and B-cell lymphoid malignancies group (14.144±21.576%) was significant higher than those in the healthy control (P<0.01, P<0.01). Moreover, the expression level of Elf-1 was different in AML and the lymphoid malignancies groups (P<0.01). That was, the highest in the B-ALL group, the lowest in the B-NHL group. These results indicated that overexpression of Elf-1 is a common feature in peripheral blood from patients with both AML and lymphoid malignancies, as TCR ζ-chain was down regulation in AML and lymphoid malignancies, the increased expression of Elf-1 gene, which an upstream factor of the TCRζ-chain might indicate a feedback up regulation situation in patients with hematologic malignancies.