Shift of N-MYC Oncogene Expression in AML Patients Carrying the FLT3-ITD Mutation.

Mutations in the gene not only lead to abnormalities in its structure and function, but also affect the expression of other genes involved in leukemogenesis. This study evaluated the expression of genes that are more characteristic of neuroblastoma but less studied in leukemia. oncogene expression was found to be more than 3-fold higher in primary AML patients carrying the mutation compared to carriers of other mutations as well as patients with normal karyotype ( = 0.03946). In contrast to the expression of several genes (, , , ) directly correlated to the allelic load of , the expression of the oncogene is extremely weakly related or independent of it ( = 0.0405). Monitoring of expression in some patients with high allelic load receiving therapy showed that a decrease in allelic load is not always accompanied by a decrease in expression. On the contrary, expression may remain elevated during the first three months after therapy, which is additional evidence of the emergence of resistance to therapy and progression of AML.