Aberrant expression and significance of OCT-4A transcription factor in leukemia cells.

Objective: To determine the contribution of the OCT-4 to the pathogenesis of leukemia.

Methods: Bone marrow (BM) samples obtained from 72 patients with leukemia, and 18 normal healthy subjects were assayed for their OCT-4 expression using both flow cytometry and RT-PCR.

Results: OCT-4 expression in BM nucleated cells of acute leukemia patients (n=33) was significantly higher than that of complete remission and chronic phase leukemia patients (n=39, p<0.001) and healthy donors (n=18, p<0.001). OCT-4 expression had a significant positive relation with CD34 expression (n=43, r=0.721, p<0.001) and the proportion of naive cells (n=60, r=0.687, p<0.001). In addition, the results of QRT-PCR detection showed that the OCT-4A had increased expression in BM nucleated cells in the patients with acute leukemia (n=33, median 16.585, range 0.38-169.62) compared to that in leukemia patients with chronic phase and in complete remission (n=39, median 3.34, range 0.04-44.49, p<0.001) and that of normal controls (n=18, median 2.89, range 0.18-16.23, p<0.001).

Conclusion: OCT-4A expression was significantly increased in the BM nucleated cells of patients with acute leukemia, indicating that OCT-4A may play an important role in the pathogenesis of leukemia and may serve as a molecular target for the development of novel diagnostic and treatment strategies in leukemia.