The expression of proliferation and quiescence associated antigens in acute myeloid leukemia correlates with survival duration: analysis of 15 refractory cases

Abstract

In this study, blast cells from 15 patients with acute myeloid leukemia resistant to induction therapy were examined with two monoclonal antibodies that identify, respectively, the nuclear protein specifically expressed in non proliferating cells (statin) and the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). We found that statin values varied widely, ranging from 0.6% to 14.7% (mean value 6.4%). When the patients were subdivided according to the mean value, those presenting with higher statin values survived for a shorter period of time than the ones characterized by lower levels (p = 0.003). We observed a wide variation in the range of PCNA values; however, if an agreement between survival duration and at least one of the proposed markers was considered, all but one case displayed concordance between survival duration and PCNA and/or statin values (in addition, 4/15 cases showed agreement for both markers). These preliminary data could indicate a possible discriminating prognostic factor between categories of patients characterized by different aspects of resistance, perhaps susceptible to different salvage therapy approaches.