In vitro leukemic cell differentiation and WT1 gene expression.

Cell differentiation and four WT1 isoforms were assessed in CD34(+) cells from patients with acute myelogenous leukemia in presence or absence of recombinant human GM-CSF and G-CSF, on days 0, 10 and 20 of culture. We found that WT1 isoforms expression was consistently higher in AML-derived CD34+ cell-enriched cell fractions, as compared to their normal counterparts, and interestingly, in both cases, cells had differentiation towards the myeloid lineage with WT1 expression different patterns. This data suggest that WT1 expression seems to be modulated by the presence of cytokines, especially on day 20 of culture.