Telomerase () Overexpression Reveals a Promising Prognostic Biomarker and Therapeutical Target in Different Clinical Subtypes of Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia.

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) is a neoplasm of the hematopoietic system defined as a clonal expansion of an abnormal lymphoid precursor cell. It mostly affects children under five years of age and is the most common tumor to afflict pediatric patients. The expression of the human telomerase gene () in patients with ALL has been studied as a biomarker and could become a new therapeutic target. We evaluate the role of gene expression in ALL pediatric patients, through quantitative real-time PCR technique, and the possible correlation between expression and clinical variables: gender, age, white blood cells (WBC), gene fusions, and immunophenotyping. The analysis between healthy controls and ALL patients ( = 244) was statistically significant ( < 0.001), demonstrating overexpression in these patients. In comparison with the usual set of clinical variables, the data were not statistically significant ( > 0.05), indicating that is equally overexpressed among patients regardless of gender, age, gene fusions, and immunophenotyping. Moreover, patients who presented a higher expression level had a significant ( < 0.0001) lower overall survival rate. In summary, expression emerges as an important molecular pathway in leukemogenesis regardless patient's clinical variables, thus, the data here presented pointed it as a valuable biomarker in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia and a promising target for new therapeutic and prognostic measures.