[mRNA expression of notch ligand-delta-like-1 and jagged-1 in mesenchymal stem cells of MDS patients].

This study was aimed to investigated the mRNA expression levels of Notch ligands- Delta-like-1 and Jagged-1 in bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells of patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), and to explore their relation with onset of MDS. Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells of 38 patients with MDS and 16 normal subjects as control were collected to detect mRNA expression of Delta-like-1 and Jagged-1 by using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The results showed that the expression levels of Delta-like-1 and Jagged-1 in mesenchymal stem cells of MDS patients were significantly higher than that in normal controls (P < 0.05). According to WHO criteria, the mRNA expression of Delta-like-1 in RA/RAS, RCMD and RAEB groups were significantly higher than that in normal controls (P < 0.05), the mRNA expression of Jagged-1 in RAEB group was also significantly higher than that in normal controls (P < 0.05). The mRNA expression of Delta-like-1 was significantly correlated with the proportion of blasts in the bone marrow of MDS patients (r = 0.502, P < 0.05). The expression levels of Delta-like-1 and Jagged-1 in MDS patients with abnormal karyotypes were significantly higher than those in MDS patients with normal karyotypes (P < 0.05). The mRNA expression of Delta-like-1 in higher risk group according to International Prognostic Scoring System was significantly higher than that in lower risk group (P < 0.05), there was no significant difference in Jagged-1 expression levels between higher risk group and lower risk group (P > 0.05). It is concluded that the changes of Delta-like-1 and Jagged-1 expression level in MSC may play a role in the pathogenesis of myelodysplastic syndrome.