Objective: To evaluate the expression level of BRD7 gene in bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMNCs) in patients with acute leukemia (AL) and to analyze BRD7 single nucleotide polymorphism(SNP).
Methods: RT-PCR was used to detect BRD7 expression in patients with AL and normal bone marrow subjects. Single-strand conformation polymorphism and DNA sequence analysis were also used to identify BRD7 mutation or SNP to investigate the relation between BRD7 and AL.
Results: BRD7 mRNA in BMNCs from 52 patients with AL and 30 control subjects was expressed. The mRNA relative expression of BRD7 in patients with AL was higher than that of the control group (P=0.001). Three SNPs (C657A,C495T and A737G) in BRD7 gene coding region (447 approximately 844 bp) were found, and A737G was coupled with C495T . The allele frequencies of SNP C657A were not significantly different between AL and the control group. The genotype and the allele frequencies of the 2 coupled SNPs were significantly different (P<0.01). But there was no significant discrepancy among the mRNA expression levels of AA, AG, and GG genotypes in the leukemia group (P>0.05).
Conclusion: Expression of BRD7 gene is up-regulated in AL cells. The 2 coupled SNPs (C495T and A737G ) in BRD7 gene coding region (447 approximately 844 bp) are correlated with AL, indicating that SNPs may be one of the genetic susceptibility factors of AL.