The Impact of Variations in the Expression of Dicer on Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Abstract

Background & Objective: Dicer a member of the RNase III endonucleases has a crucial function in the development of miRNAs that affects gene expression in different kinds of cancers. The present research focused on examining the expression level of Dicer and its relation with clinicopathological features in children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) among the population in the northwest region of Iran.
 Materials & Methods: In a case-control study, 140 samples (70 patients and 70 healthy controls of similar age and sex rates) from 2019 to 2021 were included in the Dicer mRNA expression levels assessment. Quantitative Real-Time PCR analyses were utilized to determine expression levels of Dicer in samples and the demographic and clinicopathologic features and the relationship of these variables were evaluated.
 Results: Average Dicer expression ct values were 2.8267 and up-regulated compared to healthy samples (P=0.000). No significant relationships have been found among gene expression, demographical and clinicopathological parameters. Also, demographical and clinicopathological factors were not correlated with the mRNA expression level of the gene except age (r=0.148, P=0.001).
 Conclusion: The current research shows that the expression of Dicer is significantly upregulated in ALL patients, which suggests that it could have a vital function in ALL pathology. It will also theoretically be seen in the potential as a new intervention objective for ALL cases.