The expressions of membrane type-1-matrix metalloproteinase and its inhibitor gene in leukemic cells

Abstract

Leukemia is a clonal disease resulting from uncontrolled neoplastic proliferation of WBC precursors inthe bone marrow. In acute leukemia, WBC precursors have unlimited proliferation without differentiation, as aconsequence there is a rapid growth of leukemic blasts in the bone marrow giving the clinical manifestation ofacute bone marrow failure syndrome. In chronic leukemia, the proliferating WBC precursors can partially differentiateinto mature cells and egress into peripheral blood; therefore they cannot cause acute bone marrow failure. Previousreports demonstrated that MT1-MMP and RECK are involved in cancer cells invasion and metastasis. However,the mechanism of egression of leukemic cells into peripheral blood is unclear. Our objective is to study gene expressionof membrane type-1-matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP) and its inhibitor, reversion inducing cysteine rich proteinwith Kazal motif (RECK) in the bone marrow and peripheral blood of patients with acute and chronic leukemiaby quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. The results demonstrated lower MT1-MMP expressions inleukemic cells obtained from bone marrow and peripheral blood of acute leukemia patients in comparison to chronicleukemia patients. On the other hand, RECK expressions on leukemic cells from bone marrow and peripheral bloodof acute and chronic leukemia patients were not significant difference. Interestingly, the expressions of MT1-MMP/RECK ratio in leukemic cells from bone marrow and peripheral blood of acute leukemia were significantly lowerthan in differentiated WBCs from chronic leukemia. These results indicated that MT1-MMP may play the importantrole in egression of leukemic cells into peripheral blood in chronic leukemia, whereas RECK is an important regulatorfor leukemic cells retention in bone marrow of acute leukemia.

Key words: Acute leukemia, Chronic leukemia, MT1-MMP, RECK