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Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a highly heterogeneous subtype of leukemia, accounting for 25 % of childhood leukemias. By the presence of genetic mutations in hematopoietic/ progenitor stem cells, the bone marrow produces a large number of abnormal undifferentiated leukocytes (blasts), which significantly impairs the proper differentiation of cells. AML is induced by two interventions. Chromosomal translocation during hematopoiesis of intrauterine development is the first intervention. This creates preleukemic fusion genes (PFG), which can later be transformed by a second intervention (point genetic mutation - deletion, insertion ) into a functional malignant clone. Characteristic AML fusion genes include AML1-ETO, PML-RARA or MLL-AF9, which in turn produce hybrid proteins with altered function. Several studies suggest that these PFGs are considered an important prognostic tool in disease assessment. While the incidence of PFG characteristic of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has been relatively well studied by several research groups and has been estimated at 1 to 5% in the umbilical cord blood of healthy neonates, PFG relevant to AML are still not sufficiently clarified.

The aim of our study was to verify possible utilization of RT-PCR method (Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction) as a diagnostic and prognostic modality of the progression of prostate cancer. This approach is commonly used for the detection of circulating carcinomatous cells in peripheral blood of patients with malignant breast tumors, and our ambition was to adopt this method for patients with prostate cancer. The contribution of this method consists in its ability to detect early stages of the dispersion of carcinomatous cells, so called micrometastases, in the peripheral circulation of patients. The estimation of the progression of the disease is especially important for the selection of appropriate therapy for individual patients. Using this method we analyzed 50 men: 28 patients with clinically localized or locally advanced prostate cancer, 7 patients with clinically proven metastases, 8 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia, and 7 healthy young men.