Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) is closely related to the infiltration of leukemia. The reports on whether leukemia cells can express VCAM-1 or not, and whether there is a relationship between refractory leukemia and VCAM-1 are inconclusive.
OBJECTIVE: To study the expression of VCAM-1, CD34, CD117 on acute myeloid leukemia cells surface, investigate the relationship between them and the treatment effect of them on refractory acute myeloid leukemia.
METHODS: The expression of VCAM-1, CD34, CD117 in acute myeloid leukemia cells from 16 patients were detected by flow cytometry. There were six patients in the refractory group and 10 patients in non-refractory group. Normal bone marrow mononuclear cells were regarded as control group.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The expressions of CD34 and CD117 on acute myeloid leukemia cells were higher than those in the control group (P < 0.05). The expression of acute myeloid leukemia cells CD34 in the refractory group was significantly higher than that in the non-refractory group (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in CD117 expression on acute myeloid leukemia between refractory group and non-refractory group (P > 0.05). The expression of VCAM-1 on acute myeloid leukemia cells was not significantly different compared with the control group
(P > 0.05). There was no significant difference in expression of VCAM-1 on acute myeloid leukemia between refractory group and non-refractory group (P > 0.05). Acute myeloid leukemia cells with CD34 expression is one of indices for
poor prognosis and the expression of CD117 and VCAM-1 has no significant correlation with treatment of refractory acute myeloid leukemia.