الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia is one of the most prevalent leukaemias in developed countries. Identification of the cases that need early and prompt treatment still leaves many patients with untailored treatment options.
Study of epigenetics in hematological malignancies may provide early identification and effective treatment option. There has been intensive work on the role of various methyltransferases in leukaemia. However, EHMT1 expression levels in Egyptian patients diagnosed with CLL, and their prognostic value are still inconclusive.
Our aim was to assess the expression pattern of EHMT1 in CLL.We also compared the expression level to various clinical and laboratory parameters.
The present study was conducted on 25 newly diagnosed CLL patients and 25 matched healthy controls. Patient were recruited at Alexandria university hospital, Hematology clinic. Treatment naive newly diagnosed CLL cases were recruited. Patient previously on chemotherapy, radiotherapy and with history of any malignancy were excluded. Only patients who consented to the study were enrolled as per recommendations of the Ethics committee - Faculty of Medicine ,Alexandria University.
Clinical examination of the CLL group was done with interest in lymphadenopathy, hepatomegaly and splenomegaly. EDTA peripheral venous blood was sampled and analyzed for CBC, Immunophenotyping (for diagnosis, Matutes score, Zap-70 and CD38) and EHMT1 expression levels study on the CLL cases. The controls had peripheral blood venous samples drawn for CBC and EHMT1 expression level study.
RNA was extracted using QIAamp RNA Blood Mini Kit (Qiagen, Germany, Catalog 52304) as per the manufacturer’s instructions. Reverse transcription was done using Reverse Transcription Kit (Applied Biosystems, U.S.A, Catalog 52304) prior to qRT-PCR using Thermo Scientific Maxima SYBR Green/ROX qPCR master Mix (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Germany, Catalog 4309155) and custom designed primers.
The expression levels of EHMT1 were evaluated by qRT-PCR, with beta-actin used as the housekeeping gene. EHMT1 expression levels were calculated using 2- ΔΔCt method. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 21.0 (IBMCorp., Armonk, NY, USA