الفهرس 
Introduction and aim of the workOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Background : Caspase3 is a member of cysteine proteases that represent important enzymes in achieving apoptosis. There are at least 14 caspases known to us, of which there are initiator caspases and effector ones. Caspase3 is one of the effector caspases which are characterized by shorter prodomain and act down stream at a bottle neck where most of apoptotic signals merge and executions of apoptosis is imminent. Aim of work: The present study was designed to evaluate the activity of caspase3 in mononuclear cells in peripheral blood in childhood and adult acute leukemias. Methods: The present study was carried out on 29 patients with newly diagnosed acute leukemia of which 15 patients were diagnosed as ALL and 14 patients were diagnosed as AML. The patients were divided into 2 major groups ALL (ALL1, n = 8 and ALL2, n = 6) and AML, acute myeloid leukemia (M1, M2, n = 7) and acute monocytic leukemia (M4, M5, n = 7). There were 11 apparently healthy normal persons of matched age and sex taken as a control reference group. Results: Fold increase of caspase3 activity was lower in both ALL and AML groups than control group (P= 0.000, P= 0.000) respectively. Fold increase of caspase3 activity was higher in ALL than AML group (P = 0.034). In ALL group, fold increase of caspase3 activity had significant negative correlation with age, Hb and TLC (P = 0.011, P = 0.046, P = 0.003) respectively, while it had significant positive correlation with presence of hepatomegaly and CD34 (P = 0.021, P = 0.042) respectively. Conclusion: Fold increase of caspase3 activity was decreased in acute leukemia patients in relation to control reference group. Fold increase of caspase3 activity was higher in ALL patients than AML patients. Fold increase of caspase3 activity was the most powerful predictor of the clinical outcome of acute leukemias.