[Expression of Wilms' Tumor 1 Gene in Bone Marrow of Patients with Myelodysplastic Syndrome and Its Clinical Significance]

Objective: To investigate the expression level and clinical significance of Wilms' tumor 1 (WT1) in bone marrow of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).

Methods: The clinical data of 147 MDS patients who accepted real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to detect the expression level of WT1 in bone marrow before treated in Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University from January 2017 to April 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. According to the expression level of WT1, the patients were divided into WT1⁺ group and WT1^- group, their clinical characteristics and prognosis were analyzed.

Results: The positive rate of WT1 in 147 MDS patients was 82.3%. There were significant differences in bone marrow blast count, aberrant karyotypes, WHO 2016 classification, and IPSS-R stratification between WT1⁺ group and WT1^- group (all P<0.05). Furthermore, the higher the malignant degree of MDS subtype and the risk stratification of IPSS-R, the higher expression level of WT1. Compared with WT1^- group, there were no differences in overall survival (OS) time and the time of transformation to AML in WT1⁺ group (both P>0.05). In patients who did not accept transplantation, the median OS time of WT1⁺ patients was significantly shorter than that of WT1^- patients (P=0.049). Besides, regarding WT1⁺ group, patients who underwent transplantation had longer OS time and lower mortality than those who received hypomethylating agents (P=0.002, P=0.005).

Conclusion: WT1 expression level directly reflects the disease progression, and it is also associated with prognosis of MDS patients.