Expression of TET1 Gene in Acute Leukaemia

"Acute leukemia" is defined by the World Health organization standards, in which greater than 20% of the cells in the bone marrow are blasts (Kabuto et al., 2006). Cure is a realistic goal and is achieved in more than 80% of affected children, although only 20-40% of adults are cured(Rose-Inman and Kuehl, 2014).

There are two major forms of acute leukaemias-acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is an acute form of leukemiacharacterized by the overproduction and accumulation of cancerous, immature white blood cells, known as lymphoblasts(Rose-Inman and Kuehl, 2014).

Internationally, ALL is more common in Caucasians than in Africans; it is more common in Hispanics and in Latin America(Greer, 2014; Urayama and Manabe, 2014).About 6,000 cases are reported in the United States every year(Inaba et al., 2013).

Acute Myeloid leukemia (AML)Acute Myeloid Leukemia is a cancer of leukemic stem cells (LSCs) with a rapid progression. It is characterized by overproduction of immature myeloid cells in bone marrow which crowds out normal hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) (Indian J Hematol Blood Transfus. 2017).

DNA methylation is a covalent modification that is critical for the regulation of gene expression in a wide variety of biological contexts (Jaenisch and Bird, 2003; Bergman and Cedar, 2013). Methylation of DNA on cytosines is an important mechanism for silencing gene expression, and cytosine demethylation is required for gene activation (Ito et al., 2011; He et al., 2011). DNA methylation plays important roles in a variety of cellular processes, including genomic imprinting , X-chromosome inactivation and regulation of gene expression (Bird 2002).