GATA-1 IS EXPRESSED IN ACUTE ERYTHROBLASTIC LEUKEMIA

Previous studies have demonstrated the expression of GATA-1 (a DNA-bin ding nuclear protein) in erythrocytes, megakaryocytes, eosinophils, ba sophils, mast cells, early marrow progenitor cells and in mouse and hu man erythroid leukaemia cell lines. We studied 31 bone marrow specimen s from patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) for GATA-1 expressi on by reverse transcriptase/ polymerase chain reaction (RT/PCR) analys is. GATA-1 expression was detected in all of the patients with erythro leukaemia, and in one of nine patients with megakaryoblastic leukaemia , but absent from 17 patients with French-American-British (FAB) M1-5 leukaemia. In AML, GATA-1 expression is indicative of differentiation to the erythroid and possibly megakaryocytic lineages, analogous to it s expression in normal haemopoiesis.