Significance of CD71 expression by flow cytometry in diagnosis of acute leukemia

Abstract

In this study we investigated the significance of CD71 (transferrin receptor 1, TfR-1) as a flow cytometric marker in the diagnosis of acute leukemia (AL). A total of 105 patients with AL were enrolled. Poorly differentiated acute myeloid leukemias (AMLs) (including minimally differentiated AML, AML without maturation, AML with maturation, acute myelomonocytic leukemia) tended to express high levels of CD71 on leukemic cells, while partially differentiated AML (including acute promyelocytic leukemia and acute monocytic leukemia) often expressed low levels of CD71 on leukemic cells (p < 0.05, compared to poorly differentiated AML). B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) expressed low levels of CD71 on leukemic cells, significantly lower than AML, mixed phenotype acute leukemia (MPAL) and normal bone marrow blasts (p < 0.05). In the seven cases of acute erythroid leukemia (AEL), leukemic cells rarely expressed CD71, with the mean CD71 expression level significantly lower than that of acute megakaryocytic leukemia (p < 0.05), and also lower than that of poorly differentiated AML and normal blasts but without statistical significance. CD71 may not be a specific marker for AEL leukemic cells. During the process from myeloid dysplasia to apparent leukemic cells, both CD71 and CD34 gradually increased. Consequently, the presence of leukemic cell subsets with variable levels of CD71 and CD34 may be useful for understanding the dynamic processes involved in the clonal development seen in leukemias.

Evaluation of CD71 Expression in Acute Leukemia in Egyptian Patients

“…Also Pande et al [33] found that the Majority of AMLs showed positivity for CD71, being positive in 84% of the cases while The CD71 positivity rate was only 30% in cases of B-ALL. Liu et al [28] found [28] and AMoL in our study had low CD 71% expression and MFI 19.5 (13.6 -25.7), 1.3 (1.3 -1.8) respectively similar to Liu et al . [28] .…”

“…Liu et al [28] found [28] and AMoL in our study had low CD 71% expression and MFI 19.5 (13.6 -25.7), 1.3 (1.3 -1.8) respectively similar to Liu et al . [28] .…”

“…Acute lymphoblastic leukemias in our study were all of precursor B type with low % expression 3.87 (2.13 -13.96) and MFI 4.5 (1.9 -13.8), similar to Liu et al [28] who found B-ALL had % expression 9.63±9.77% (0.47%-39.23%, median 7.49%), with the MFIR of 1.93±1.1 (1.13-6.8, median 6.8).…”

“…We found that CD71 expression was significantly higher in acute myeloid leukemias than precursor B lymphoblastic leukemia while mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of CD71 was significantly higher in precursor B lymphoblastic leukemia than acute myeloid leukemia. Similar to Liu et al [28] who studied CD71 expression in Chinese population and found that CD71 may be useful for the differential diagnosis of B-ALL from AML. Also Pande et al [33] found that the Majority of AMLs showed positivity for CD71, being positive in 84% of the cases while The CD71 positivity rate was only 30% in cases of B-ALL.…”

“…hematopoietic cells and malignant tissues, with the latter showing even higher expression. In many studies [6,18,[20][21][22][23][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] , CD71 was found not only to be expressed by the majority of acute leukemias, chronic granulocytic leukemias in blast crisis, myeloma and lymphoproliferative disorders with variable density expression but also correlates with clinical data, morphologic subtypes, disease course and overall prognosis. Our study aimed at evaluation of CD71 expression in acute leukemia.…”