[Leptin receptor polymorphism--the evaluation of the hetero- and homozygote frequencies in population of children suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and healthy children]. / Polimorfizm receptora leptyny--ocena czestosci wystepowania hetero- i homozygot w populacji dzieci chorujacych na ALL i dzieci zdrowych.

UNLABELLED: Leptin, together with its specific receptor, plays a significant role in various metabolic and biochemical processes in a human body. The Q223R polymorphism of the leptin receptor gene is associated with the increased risk of developing metabolic syndrome. Body exhausting treatment administered to children suffering from ALL, combined with potentially disadvantageous polymorphism, may lead to developing obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure, all of which constitute the metabolic syndrome factors. The aim of the study was to evaluate the hetero- and homozygote frequencies for the Q223R polymorphism of the leptin receptor gene in the examined group of Caucasian children and adolescents suffering from ALL, compared to the control group. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 95 children underwent genetic testing (52 children in the examined group, with 43 children in the control group), all of them being treated in Department of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology Medical University of Bialystok. The examined group consisted of 31 boys and 21 girls, with 30 and 13 subjects in the control group, respectively. The division into heterozygotes and homozygotes of the leptin receptor gene polymorphism was established by the RFLPmethod (restrictedfragmentlength polymorphism), using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Products obtained from that reaction were splitted by means of 4% agarose gel electrophoresis. To determine the importance of differencies between the frequency of alleles and the frequency of genotypes for the set groups, a software--DE-FINETTI DIAGRAM and Hardy-Weinberg test was used, p < 0.05 is concluded to be a statistically significant result. RESULTS: In the examined group there were observed slightly higher frequencies of heterozygous individuals with the AG genotype (50%), compared to GG genotype (28.8%) and AA genotype (21.2%). In the control group the genotype distribution was as follows: AG genotype --48.8%, GG genotype--39.5% and AA individuals--11.6%. No significant differences were observed between the set groups in question. CONCLUSIONS: The heterozygote and homozygote frequencies for the Q223R polymorphism of the leptin receptor gene examined in the group of children suffering from ALL do not differ from the frequencies examined in the population of healthy children.