Trial Information

Detection of Minimal Residual Disease in Newly Diagnosed Patients With Leukemia and Those Who Undergo a Bone Marrow Transplant Using the Wilms Tumor Suppressor Gene (WT1) as a Marker By RT-PCR

Patients with acute Leukemia may have a large number of leukemic cells at the time that
leukemia is evident clinically. At the time that we determine that a patient is in complete
remission (CR) the patient may still have leukemic cells present in smaller quantities. One
of the most important factors in the successful treatment of patients with leukemia is the
ability to determine if the eradication of leukemia has been achieved. The determination of
Minimal Residual Disease may be important in the determination of the therapy that a given
patient will receive as determined by the level of residual disease.

WT1 gene function and expression. The WT1 gene is a candidate gene for Wilms tumor, which is
thought to arise as a result from inactivation of both alleles of the WT1 gene located at
chromosome 11p13. The WT1 gene has been considered a tumor suppressor gene because
intragenic deletions or mutations are found in tumors, germline mutations have been found
in-patients with leukemia, and mediates growth suppression of Wilms tumor cells expressing a
WT1 splicing variant.