Down-Regulation of PU.1 Gene in Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Patients from South of Iran

Background: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is resulted from the infiltration of high amount of non-differentiated cells in bone marrow. Differentiation of the hematopoietic stem cells into specific cell lineage occurs through a highly regulated pathway which is mainly monitored during transcription step. Expression level and pattern of transcription factors e.g. PU.1 determine fate and developmental phases in this pathway. This study was performed to evaluate the expression level of the PU.1 gene in a group of children suffering from ALL. Materials and Methods: The mRNA expression level of the PU.1 gene was compared between 30 children diagnosed as new cases of ALL and 30 sex- and gender-matched healthy children in the present case-control study. The quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to determine the level of PU.1 gene expression. The data were analyzed using Graph Pad Prism statistical software. Results: The mRNA level of the PU.1 gene was significantly lower in the blood samples of the ALL patients compared to the controls (p= 0.002). Conclusion: The results of the study indicated that the PU.1 gene seemed to have key roles in the differentiation pathway of blood cells.