WT1 for the Detection of Minimal Residual Disease

• To assess the presence of the WT1 gene at the time of relapse in-patients with acute or chronic leukemia.
  
• To determine longitudinally its value as a marker for minimal residual disease (MRD) and its correlation to leukemia free survival after bone marrow transplantation.
  
• To assess the presence of the WT1 gene in newly diagnosed patients with leukemia (ALL, ANLL) at the time of diagnoses and during the course of their treatment and correlate it with leukemia free survival (LFS) and relapse.
  

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.