Genetic polymorphisms in the chromatin modifier gene ARID5B in modulating the risk of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia in Bangladesh

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most prevalent form of hematological cancer in children. In Bangladesh, the number of acute leukemia among children has been increasing each year and the genome studies regarding single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in different genes related to lymphocyte development have not been explored yet. Therefore, the study aimed to examine the association between a specific SNP (rs10821936) in the ARID5B gene and the risk of childhood ALL in Bangladeshi children. The identification of the children's demographic and clinical characteristics as well as real-time PCR-based allelic discrimination method was employed to identify the genotypes of 194 ALL cases and 209 controls, respectively. Both the age difference and serum creatinine level between the control and patient groups were insignificant. In comparison to individuals who were healthy, both the blood ALT and LDH levels of the male and female child ALL participants were considerably high. However, compared to control groups, the serum calcium level in child ALL patients was considerably low. Serum ALT and LDH had a significant positive relationship while both had a negative correlation with serum calcium. The investigation revealed that the minor allele C was the risk allele for the SNP (rs10821936) and it has been linked to a higher incidence of ALL in Bangladeshi children [Odds ratio (OR) = 1.35; 95 % Confidence Interval (CI) = 1.02–1.79; P-value = 0.0380]. Thus, the findings of this study could help to understand the background of genetic predisposition and risk assessment of childhood ALL.