Background: Acute myeloid or lymphoid leukemia is a heterogeneous clonal type of cancer. We aimed to investigate the expression and methylation of Apoptotic protease activating factor 1 (
APAF1) and Normal Epithelial Cell-Specific 1 (
NES1/KLK10) genes in Acute Leukemia patients in comparison with the normal controls.
Methods: Seventy and 35 patients affected with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia and 105 normal healthy controls were recruited.
APAF1 and
NES1/KLK10 expression were studied by quantitative Reverse Transcriptase PCR in their PBMC. Methylation status was evaluated by Methylation‐Sensitive High-Resolution Melting Curve Analysis (MS‐HRM).
Results: In AML and ALL patients, the mean methylation levels of
APAF1 and NES1/KLK10 genes were significantly higher and lower than that in the control group respectively. On the other hand, the expression level of
NES1/KLK10 gene in patients was downregulated in comparison with that in the control group. The expression of
APAF1 was just downregulated in ALL patients. Overall, APAF1 methylation showed excellent diagnostic performance. While the patients with an unchanged level of
NES1/KLK10 showed better survival, methylation of
NES1/KLK10 and
APAF1 was associated with decreased overall survival of patients.
Conclusion: Methylation of
NES1/KLK10 and especially
APAF1 can be considered as diagnostic markers for leukemia.