Oncofetal Protein Sall4 Is Highly Expressed In Myelodysplastic Syndrome Alongside With Nat10 And P53

Introduction: Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is a group of heterogeneous diseases characterized by cytologic dysplasia and refractory cytopenias as a result of ineffective hematopoiesis. We have reported that oncofetal protein SALL4 can be used as a prognostic biomarker in MDS disease. SALL4 is a transcription factor that is important for development and embryonic stem cell properties. While SALL4 expression is down-regulated or absent in most adult tissues, SALL4 is re-expressed in various cancers. We have previously reported that aberrant expression of SALL4 can be detected in MDS and AML patients. Studies in murine models, as well as in human samples, have demonstrated that SALL4 is essential for leukemic cell survival and that SALL4 transgenic mice develop an MDS-like phenotype prior to transformation to AML, suggesting that SALL4 can be a driver of MDS/AML pathogenesis.