Abstract
To evaluate the prognostic significance of Wilms’ tumor gene 1 (WT1) expression for monitoring minimal residual disease and predicting relapse in patients with acute leukemia (AL) following allogeneic hematopoietic SCT (allo-HSCT), the WT1 expression levels of 138 AL patients were measured using real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR at designed time points after allo-HSCT. All patients were divided into four groups based on the HSCT outcomes and intervention application. A low level of WT1 expression following HSCT indicated a low risk of relapse, whereas WT1 expression >1.05% was indicative of a higher probability of relapse. Only the advanced stage of disease (hazard ratio (HR)=2.73; 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.337–5.573, P=0.006) and a WT1 expression ⩾0.60% (HR=4.774; 95% CI=2.410–9.459, P=0.000) were associated with lower disease-free survival. Relapse (HR=0.119; 95% CI=0.056–0.250, P=0.000) and a WT1 expression ⩾0.60% (HR=2.771; 95% CI=1.316–5.834, P=0.007) were associated with lower OS. In conclusion, the WT1 expression level is an independent prognostic factor that can predict clinical outcomes for AL patients after HSCT and provide a guide for suitable interventions.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Inoue K, Sugiyama H, Ogawa H, Nakagawa M, Yamagami T, Miwa H et al. WT1 as a new prognostic factor and a new marker for the detection of minimal residual disease in acute leukemia. Blood 1994; 84: 3071–3079.
Brieger J, Weidmann E, Fenchel K, Mitrou PS, Hoelzer D, Bergmann L . The expression of the Wilms’ tumor gene in acute myelocytic leukemias as a possible marker for leukemic blast cells. Leukemia 1994; 8: 2138–2143.
Ogawa H, Ikegame K, Kawakami M, Tamaki H . WT1 gene transcript assay for relapse in acute leukemia after transplantation. Leuk Lymphoma 2004; 45: 1747–1753.
Gianfaldoni G, Mannelli F, Ponziani V, Longo G, Bencini S, Bosi A et al. Early reduction of WT1 transcripts during induction chemotherapy predicts for longer disease free and overall survival in acute myeloid leukemia. Haematologica 2010; 95: 833–836.
Hamalainen MM, Kairisto V, Juvonen V, Johansson J, Auren J, Kohonen K et al. Wilms tumour gene 1 overexpression in bone marrow as a marker for minimal residual disease in acute myeloid leukaemia. Eur J Haematol 2008; 80: 201–207.
Qin Y, Zhu H, Jiang B, Li J, Lu X, Li L et al. Expression patterns of WT1 and PRAME in acute myeloid leukemia patients and their usefulness for monitoring minimal residual disease. Leuk Res 2009; 33: 384–390.
Lapillonne H, Renneville A, Auvrignon A, Flamant C, Blaise A, Perot C et al. High WT1 expression after induction therapy predicts high risk of relapse and death in pediatric acute myeloid leukemia. J Clin Oncol 2006; 24: 1507–1515.
Uzunel M, Ringden O . Poor correlation of kinetics between BCR-ABL and WT1 transcript levels after allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant 2004; 33: 47–52.
Imashuku S, Terui K, Matsuyama T, Asami K, Tsuchiya S, Ishii E et al. Lack of clinical utility of minimal residual disease detection in allogeneic stem cell recipients with childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: multi-institutional collaborative study in Japan. Bone Marrow Transplant 2003; 31: 1127–1135.
Ogawa H, Tamaki H, Ikegame K, Soma T, Kawakami M, Tsuboi A et al. The usefulness of monitoring WT1 gene transcripts for the prediction and management of relapse following allogeneic stem cell transplantation in acute type leukemia. Blood 2003; 101: 1698–1704.
Candoni A, Toffoletti E, Gallina R, Simeone E, Chiozzotto M, Volpetti S et al. Monitoring of minimal residual disease by quantitative WT1 gene expression following reduced intensity conditioning allogeneic stem cell transplantation in acute myeloid leukemia. Clin Transplant 2011; 25: 308–316.
Gabert J, Beillard E, van der Velden VH, Bi W, Grimwade D, Pallisgaard N et al. Standardization and quality control studies of ‘real-time’ quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction of fusion gene transcripts for residual disease detection in leukemia—a Europe Against Cancer program. Leukemia 2003; 17: 2318–2357.
Beillard E, Pallisgaard N, van der Velden VH, Bi W, Dee R, van der Schoot E et al. Evaluation of candidate control genes for diagnosis and residual disease detection in leukemic patients using ‘real-time’ quantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RQ-PCR)—a Europe against cancer program. Leukemia 2003; 17: 2474–2486.
Tamaki H, Mishima M, Kawakami M, Tsuboi A, Kim EH, Hosen N et al. Monitoring minimal residual disease in leukemia using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction for Wilms tumor gene (WT1). Int J Hematol 2003; 78: 349–356.
Qin YZ, Liu YR, Zhu HH, Li JL, Ruan GR, Zhang Y et al. Different kinetic patterns of BCR-ABL transcript levels in imatinib-treated chronic myeloid leukemia patients after achieving complete cytogenetic response. Int J Lab Hematol 2008; 30: 317–323.
Simpson E, Matsunaga T . Physiological function of major histocompatibility complex macromolecules. Facts and hypotheses. Transplantation 1979; 27: 295–297.
Shulman HM, Sullivan KM, Weiden PL, McDonald GB, Striker GE, Sale GE et al. Chronic graft-versus-host syndrome in man. A long-term clinicopathologic study of 20 Seattle patients. Am J Med 1980; 69: 204–217.
Dohner H, Estey EH, Amadori S, Appelbaum FR, Buchner T, Burnett AK et al. Diagnosis and management of acute myeloid leukemia in adults: recommendations from an international expert panel, on behalf of the European LeukemiaNet. Blood 2010; 115: 453–474.
Huang XJ, Liu DH, Liu KY, Xu LP, Chen YH, Wang Y et al. Modified donor lymphocyte infusion after HLA-mismatched/haploidentical T cell-replete hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for prophylaxis of relapse of leukemia in patients with advanced leukemia. J Clin Immunol 2008; 28: 276–283.
Candoni A, Tiribelli M, Toffoletti E, Cilloni D, Chiarvesio A, Michelutti A et al. Quantitative assessment of WT1 gene expression after allogeneic stem cell transplantation is a useful tool for monitoring minimal residual disease in acute myeloid leukemia. Eur J Haematol 2009; 82: 61–68.
Busse A, Gokbuget N, Siehl JM, Hoelzer D, Schwartz S, Rietz A et al. Wilms’ tumor gene 1 (WT1) expression in subtypes of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) of adults and impact on clinical outcome. Ann Hematol 2009; 88: 1199–1205.
Gu WY, Chen ZX, Hu SY, Zhu J, Wang ZL, Yan F et al. [Significance of dynamic detection of WT1 expression on monitoring minimal residual disease in leukemia patients following allogeneic bone marrow transplantation]. Zhonghua yi xue za zhi 2005; 85: 444–447.
Lasa A, Carricondo M, Estivill C, Bussaglia E, Gich I, Brunet S et al. WT1 monitoring in core binding factor AML: comparison with specific chimeric products. Leuk Res 2009; 33: 1643–1649.
Lin F, van Rhee F, Goldman JM, Cross NC . Kinetics of increasing BCR-ABL transcript numbers in chronic myeloid leukemia patients who relapse after bone marrow transplantation. Blood 1996; 87: 4473–4478.
Jacobsohn DA, Tse WT, Chaleff S, Rademaker A, Duerst R, Olszewski M et al. High WT1 gene expression before haematopoietic stem cell transplant in children with acute myeloid leukaemia predicts poor event-free survival. Br J Haemat 2009; 146: 669–674.
Jin S, Liu DH, Xu LP, Chen H, Chen YH, Qin YZ et al. [The significance of dynamic detection of WT1 expression on patients of hematologic malignancy following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation]. Zhonghua nei ke za zhi [Chin J Intern Med] 2008; 47: 578–581.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Outstanding Young Scientist's Foundation of China (grant no. 30725038), the Program for Innovative Research Team in University (grant no. IRT 0702) and the Leading Program of Clinical Faculty accredited by the Ministry of Health of China.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhao, XS., Jin, S., Zhu, HH. et al. Wilms’ tumor gene 1 expression: an independent acute leukemia prognostic indicator following allogeneic hematopoietic SCT. Bone Marrow Transplant 47, 499–507 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2011.121
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2011.121
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
WT1 and TP53 as valuable diagnostic biomarkers for relapse after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in acute myeloid leukemia
Molecular Biology Reports (2024)
-
The clinical outcomes of haploidentical stem cell transplantation (haplo-HSCT) for patients with therapy-related myelodysplastic syndrome: comparable to de novo myelodysplastic syndrome
Clinical and Experimental Medicine (2024)
-
Monitoring of post-transplant MLL-PTD as minimal residual disease can predict relapse after allogeneic HSCT in patients with acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome
BMC Cancer (2022)
-
Wilms’ tumor gene 1 is an independent prognostic factor for pediatric acute myeloid leukemia following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
BMC Cancer (2021)
-
Prognosis and risk factors for central nervous system relapse after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in acute myeloid leukemia
Annals of Hematology (2021)