Microarray based comparative genome-wide expression profiling of major subtypes of leukemia

The uncontrolled proliferation of hematopoietic cells with no capacity to differentiate into mature blood cells leads to leukemia. Though considerable amount of work has been done in understanding the molecular basis and gene expression profiles of hematologic malignancies viz., chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) and acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), the role of various underlying genes and mechanisms predisposing the disease are poorly understood. To develop the early diagnosis, preventive and therapeutic strategies, identification of population specific novel mutations and candidate genes are required. Micro array based gene expression profiling was performed for total of 18 samples (4 from each subtype of leukemia that is, CLL, CML, ALL, AML and 2 controls) from Indian population using single color hybridization. The expression of all genes presented in terms of fold variation was subjected to F-test. The microarray data of genes showing differential regulation with respect to the control samples have been obtained from total 50, 238 probes covering 14,992 genes on Agilent’s Human 8X60K Array. The experiment was conducted with expectation to have similar patterns of result in terms of gene expression but it demonstrates statistically significant relationship only among CML and ALL which are of myeloid and lymphoid origin, respectively, in contrast to other combinations. Gene expression profiles of four subtypes of leukemia were compared to each other to ascertain the overall association and significance of genes for occurrence of different types of leukemiawhich would guide in the development of common probable biomarkers for leukemias followed by effective diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. Based on their geomean fold values, the highly upregulated genes found in this study are listed.Keywords: Leukemia, microarray, gene expression profiling, fold variation, lymphoid, myeloid, geomean foldAfrican Journal of Biotechnology, Vol. 13(10), pp. 1174-1181, 5 March, 201

SNAP SHOT OF EPIDEMIOLOGICAL PATTERN OF CERVICAL CANCER PATIENTS REPORTING TO A TERTIARY CANCER CARE CENTER IN NORTH KARNATAKA, INDIA

ABSTRACT Cervical Cancer (CC) has declined in the developed countries but the same has not been observed in the developing countries. India has 1,34,000 cases and the mortality is about 73,000. This retrospective study was carried out to understand the sociodemographic and clinico-pathologic results that would aid in identifying possible risk factors involved in cervical cancer patients attending to the tertiary cancer care hospital from the year 2001 to 2011 located in North Karnataka in the southern part of India. A total of 22,049 of cancer cases were reported and out of these 5,035 i.e., 41.52% were cervical cancer patients. The average age was 45 years and the median age was 50 years. Maximum number of patients was in the age group of 40-49 years. Majority of the patients were from the rural background with lower socio-economic status. This epidemiological study throws some light to the incidence of cervical cancer in this region and also the most likely risk factors involved. The increasing burden of CC among women requires immediate epidemiological investigations among the rural and urban population. This hospital based study gives an insight into the pattern and possible risk factors and to identify the high risk groups for CC