Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase (Btk) and Nuclear Factor–Kappa B (NF-ҡB) Genes Expression: Prognostic Biomarkers in Pediatric B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Abstract

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a malignant disorder of lymphoid progenitor cells characterized by diverse cytogenetic and molecular abnormalities. Although chemotherapy can cure a major proportion of ALL patients, some may relapse and develop serious complications including death. Bruton tyrosine kinase (Btk), is a cyto¬plasmic protein mainly expressed in hematopoietic cells, and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), is a transcription factor that can bind to Btk promoters to induce its transcription. NF-κB can bind to Btk promoters to induce its transcription. Both Btk and NF-κB are involved in lymphoma, multiple my-eloma, acute myeloid leukemia, breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, thyroid cancer and other tumors. They regulate the transcription of genes involved in immune and inflammatory responses (Bruno et al., 2018).