Abstract: Objective: To study the expression level of TRF1 (telomeric repeat binding factor 1) protein in human acute leukemia and relationship between expression level of TRF1 protein and telomerase. Methods: A quantitative Western-Blot technique was developed using anti-TRF1^33-277 monoclonal antibody and GST-TRF1 purity protein as a standard to further determine the expression level of TRF1 protein in total proteins extracted from clinical specimens. Results: Bone marrow tissues of 20 acute leukemia patients were studied, 11 healthy donors’ bone marrows were taken as a control. The expression level of TRF1 protein was significantly higher (P<0.01) in normal bone marrow ((2.217±0.462) µg/µl) than that of acute leukemia patients ((0.754±0.343) µg/µl). But there was no remarkable difference between ALL and ANLL patients ((0.618±0.285) µg/µl vs (0.845±0.359) µg/µl, P>0.05). After chemotherapy, TRF1 expression level of patients with complete remission elevated ((0.772±0.307) µg/µl vs (1.683±0.344) µg/µl, P<0.01), but lower than that of normal ((2.217±0.462) µg/µl, P<0.01). There was no significantly difference after chemotherapy ((0.726±0.411) µg/µl vs (0.895±0.339) µg/µl, P>0.05). TRF1 expression level of patients with complete remission is higher than that of patients without complete remission ((1.683±0.344) µg/µl vs (0.895±0.339) µg/µl, P<0.01). All samples were determined for telomerase activity. It was confirmed that the activity of telomerase in normal bone marrow was lower than that of acute leukemia patients ((0.125±0.078) µg/µl vs (0.765±0.284) µg/µl, P<0.01). There was no significant difference of expression level of TRF1 protein between ALL and ANLL patients ((0.897±0.290) µg/µl vs (0.677±0.268) µg/µl, P>0.05). After chemotherapy, telomerase activity of patients with complete remission decreased ((0.393±0.125) µg/µl), but was still higher than that of normal ((0.125±0.078) µg/µl, P<0.01). Conclusion: The expression level of TRF1 protein has correlativity to the activity of telomerase (P<0.001).

Key words: Acute leukemia (AL), Human telomeric repeat binding factor protein 1 (TRF1), Monoclonal antibody, Expression level of TRF1 protein, Telomerase activity

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