Investigating the effect of gene (MEK1) in MAPK pathway in the induction of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL).

Background And Objectives: HTLV-1 is responsible for two important diseases, HAM/TSP and ATLL. Approximately 10 to 20 million people are infected with HTLV-1 worldwide. Identifying altered genes in different cancers is crucial for finding potential treatment strategies. One of the proteins of the RAS/MAPK signaling pathway is MEK1, which is made from the gene. The effects of the gene on the MAPK signaling pathway are not yet fully elucidated. The current study aims to determine the gene mutations and the level of gene expression in ATLL patients compared to healthy individuals.

Materials And Methods: Ten ATLL and 10 healthy control individuals were investigated in this study. We used ELISA test to screen anti-HTLV-I antibodies and PCR for confirmation of infection. Then, we extracted total RNA from fresh whole blood, and cDNA was synthesized. The expression levels of the gene were examined by qRT-PCR, and to check possible mutations in the gene; all samples were sequenced and analyzed by BioEdite Software.

Results: gene expression in the ATLL group was significantly higher than in the healthy control (P=0.001). The mutational sequencing analysis showed nucleotide 212 (S→R) change and identification mutations at different nucleotides that were entirely different from the nucleotide mutations defined in the UniProt database.

Conclusion: These results could be a perspective in the prevention, prognosis, and targeted treatment of diseases in which the gene plays a vital role.