There have been conflicting results regarding a
correlation between CD133 expression and disease outcome.
To assess CD133 expression in patients with acute
myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia
(ALL) and to evaluate its correlation with the different
clinical and laboratory data as well as its relation to disease
outcome, the present study included 60 newly diagnosed
acute leukemic patients; 30 ALL patients with a male to
female ratio of 1.5:1 and their ages ranged from 9 months
to 48 years, and 30 AML patients with a male to female
ratio of 1:1 and their ages ranged from 17 to 66 years. Flow
cytometric assessment of CD133 expression was performed
on blast cells. In ALL, no correlations were elicited
between CD133 expression and some monoclonal antibodies,
but in AML group, there was a significant positive
correlation between CD133 and HLA-DR, CD3, CD7 and
TDT, CD13 and CD34. In ALL group, patients with negative
CD133 expression achieved complete remission more
than patients with positive CD133 expression. In AML
group, there was no statistically significant association
found between positive CD133 expression and treatment
outcome. The Kaplan–Meier curve illustrated a high significant
negative correlation between CD133 expression
and the overall survival of the AML patients. CD133
expression is an independent prognostic factor in acute
leukemia, especially ALL patients and its expression could
characterize a group of acute leukemic patients with higher
resistance to standard chemotherapy and relapse. CD133 expression was highly associated with poor prognosis in
acute leukemic patients. |