Studies of WT1-knockout mice confirmed the important role of WT1 in the pathogenesis of Wilms' tumour, a tumour which accounts for 95% of all childhood renal tumours.
Wilms tumor 1 (WT1) is a pan-leukemic marker used for identification of the leukemic clone rather than the use of individual specific molecular aberration of ALL.
Wilms' tumor gene 1 (WT1) gene expression was analyzed in 32 patient with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and 18 with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) to investigate whether it could serve as a MRD marker.
By contrast, 40 primary samples of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL; B-ALL, n = 15 and T-ALL, n = 10) and acute myeloid leukemia (n = 15) expressed low levels of WT1 protein.
Follow up studies of the WT1 gene expression in the peripheral blood of WT1-positive childhood ALL may enable researchers to monitor MRD and detect a very low leukemic cell count (perhaps called "molecular relapse").
These data indicate that (1) wt1 gene expression at diagnosis is detected more frequently in patients with high leukocyte and peripheral blast cell counts, but is not associated with specific characteristics of leukaemic cells, (2) wt1 gene expression is not an independent prognostic factor for CR, DFS or OS in childhood ALL treated by an intensive therapy protocol.