Korean J Pediatr Hematol Oncol.  2001 Oct;8(2):206-214.

Clinical Significance of Multidrug Resistance-1 Gene Over-expression in Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

• Oh SH

Abstract

PURPOSE: The object of this study is to elucidate the clinical significance of multidrug resistance gene-1 (MDR-1) over-expression in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
METHODS
41 bone marrow specimen from 36 patients of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) were stained with anti-P-glycoprotein antibody and analyzed with flow cytometry. The presence of P-glycoprotein was compared with the clinical parameters of patients.
RESULTS
P-glycoprotein was present in 17 cases (41.5%). There was a tendency that the expression of P-glycoprotein showed positive relationship with relapse rate and negative relationship with event free survival time. There was no statistically significant correlation between the over-expression of P-glycoprotein and clinical parameters such as complete remission induction, two years survival rate, age, sex, initial leukocyte counts, and immunophenotype.
CONCLUSION
At this study, the over-expression of MDR-1 did not show any statistically significant clinical impact on childhood ALL. Because sample numbers of this study were not enough to find the significance of MDR-1 over-expression on clinical course of childhood ALL such as relapse and event free survival rate, there should be prospective, multi-center, well-controlled study to elucidate the impact of MDR-1 over-expression in childhood ALL.

Keyword

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia; P-glycoprotein; MDR-1; Flow cytometry

MeSH Terms

Bone Marrow
Disease-Free Survival
Drug Resistance, Multiple
Flow Cytometry
Humans
Leukocyte Count
P-Glycoprotein
Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma*
Recurrence
Remission Induction
Survival Rate
P-Glycoprotein