Utility of BMI-1 and NANOG expression levels in survival prediction of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia

ABSTRACT Background Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common malignancy in children characterized by the overproduction and accumulation of immature lymphoid cells in the bone marrow and peripheral blood. The BMI-1 is an important component of the Polycomb Repressive Complex-1 (PRC1). It is an important molecule for the self-renewal of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). The BMI-1 expression is generally high in HSCs and decreases after cell differentiation. The BMI-1 is required for the maintenance of normal and cancer stem cells and has been reported as an oncogene in various tumo...