Expression of dlk1 in the Bone Marrow Cells of Patients with Myelodysplastic Syndrome and Its Clinical Significance

To investigate the expression of dlk1 gene (delta-like 1) in the bone marrow cells of patients with Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), and explore the molecular marker for early diagnosis of MDS.

The expression of dlk1 mRNA in the bone marrow cells of cases with MDS, AML and normal controls were measured by RT-PCR, aiming to search for the cytogenetic marker of MDS malignant clone.

The expression of dlk1 mRNA in bone marrow cells of MDS patients (0.7342±0.3652) was significantly higher than that of normal controls (0.4801±0.1759) (P<0.05), and was significantly positively correlated with the proportion of bone marrow blasts(r=0.467,P<0.05). The expression of dlk1 mRNA significantly increased as the subtype of MDS advanced (P<0.05). Patients with abnormal karyotypes displayed significantly higher expression of dlk1 mRNA (0.9007±0.4334) than those with normal karyotypes (0.6411±0.2630) (P<0.05). Patients with higher expression of dlk1(≥0.8) presented significantly higher malignant clone burden (0.4134±0.3999) than those with lower expression (<0.8) of dlk1 (0.1517±0.3109) (P<0.05).

dlk1 gene was highly expressed in MDS patients, which increased as the subtype of MDS advanced. The expression of dlk1 mRNA was significantly positively correlated with the proportion of bone marrow blasts. High expression of dlk1 gene suggests high malignant clone burden of MDS.

No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.