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Minimal Residual Disease in Acute Myeloid Leukemia Is Predicted by an Apoptosis-Resistant Protein Profile at Diagnosis

Authors' Affiliation: Department of Hematology, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Requests for reprints: Gerrit J Schuurhuis, Department of Hematology, VU University Medical Center, BR240 P.O. Box 7057, 1007 MB Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Phone: 31-20-4443838; Fax: 31-20-4442601; E-mail: GJ.Schuurhuis{at}vumc.nl.

Purpose: Apoptosis is an important mechanism regulating survival of acute myeloid leukemia cells. The apoptosis-related protein profile at diagnosis is important for achieving complete remission thereby affecting survival variables such as disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS).

To investigate the role of the apoptosis protein profile in further response to therapy and outgrowth of disease.

Experimental Design: We studied whether Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, Mcl-1, Bax as well as the Bcl-2/Bax ratio and a combination of all (antiapoptosis index, AAI) are related to the frequency of malignant cells surviving the chemotherapy (i.e., minimal residual disease, MRD). MRD cells were identified by leukemia-associated aberrant phenotypes established at diagnosis by flow cytometry.

Results: We found that Bcl-2 (R = 0.55, P = 0.002), Bcl-2/Bax (R = 0.42, P = 0.02), and AAI (R = 0.47, P = 0.01) at diagnosis directly correlated with MRD after the first cycle of chemotherapy. In turn, MRD frequency after first cycle correlated with DFS (P = 0.04). Taken together, these results directly explain why Bcl-2/Bax and especially AAI (P = 0.007) at diagnosis correlate with DFS.

Conclusion: Our results show that apoptosis resistance plays an important role in the first stage of the therapy (i.e., to eliminate the bulk of malignant cells), in terms of achievement of complete remission and frequency of MRD after first cycle of therapy.

Key Words: Bcl-2 • Bax • MRD • survival

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