Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2004, 204(2)

Stanniocalcin-1 as a Novel Marker to Detect Minimal Residual Disease of Human Leukemia

YASUO TOHMIYA, YOSHIO KOIDE,¹ SHINICHI FUJIMAKI,¹ HIDEO HARIGAE,¹ TADAO FUNATO,¹ MITSUO KAKU,¹ TOMONORI ISHII, YASUHIKO MUNAKATA, JUNICHI KAMEOKA and TAKESHI SASAKI

Department of Rheumatology and Hematology, ¹Department of Molecular Diagnostics, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan

Stanniocalcin is a glycoprotein hormone that regulates the calcium level in fish. We found that mRNA of human stanniocalcin 1 (STC-1) is detectable in phytohemagglutinin-stimulated T cells and in most human leukemia cell lines, suggesting a role of STC-1 for cell proliferation. This finding prompts us to study the usefulness of STC-1 for monitoring acute leukemia. The levels of STC-1 transcripts increased in patients with acute leukemia at diagnosis and relapse, as judged by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Levels of transcripts rapidly decreased to within the cut-off levels, when the blast numbers decreased with chemotherapy. Prolonged elevation of STC-1 levels after treatment was associated with a poor prognosis. All of 7 patients relapsed 1 to 4 months after they showed an elevated level of the transcripts in clinical remission. These results indicate that STC-1 is a novel marker for minimal residual disease of acute leukemia, and for an early diagnosis of relapse.

keywords —— Stanniocalcin 1 (STC-1); leukemia; real-time PCR; minimal residual disease (MRD)

© 2004 Tohoku University Medical Press

===============================

Address for reprints: Dr. Takeshi Sasaki, Department of Rheumatology and Hematology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1 Seiryomachi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8574, Japan.

e-mail: takesa18@mail.tains.tohoku.ac.jp