The Prognostic Significance of the CD34 Antigen in Acute Myeloid Leukaemia

Abstract

The prognostic value of CD34 expression on leukaemic blast cells was assessed in 38 patients with acute myeloid leukaemia. Nineteen patients had more than 10% CD34 positive blast cells. Median survival for the CD34 positive patients was 125 days and for the CD34 negative patients the median survival has not yet been reached at day 575 (p = 0.06). Of those patients who received intensive chemotherapy, CD34 positive patients (n = 13) had a median survival of 150 days while for CD34 negative patients (n = 14) the median survival has not yet been reached (p = 0.01). Adjustment for age and pre-existing myelodysplastic syndrome did not affect the correlation of CD34 positivity with survival (p = 0.02). Over the period of observation (median 10 months, range 2-19 months) the relative risk of death was 5 times greater for the CD34 positive patients. This study suggests that CD34 expression is an adverse prognostic marker, independent of age and pre-existing myelodysplasia.

Mutations in nucleophosmin (NPM1) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML): association with other gene abnormalities and previously established gene expression signatures and their favorable prognostic significance

“…This is in agreement with CD34 expression as an indicator for poor response to induction therapy. [41][42][43] In addition, we demonstrate by multivariate analyses that NPM1 mutations are a strong independent favorable predictive marker for EFS, DFS, and OS in AML. The finding that the effect of NPM1 mutation is much more pronounced in multivariable than in univariable analyses can be explained by the strong correlation between NPM1 and FLT3 ITD mutations and additionally by the association with high WBC count and age.…”

Flow cytometric maturity score as a novel prognostic parameter in patients with acute myeloid leukemia

“…The prognostic significance of the expression of particular antigens remains controversial with previous studies mostly focusing on single antigens [11][12][13][14]. In contrast, the influence of 3 immunophenotypic maturity of AML blasts on overall prognosis is largely unknown.…”

CD56 antigenic expression in acute myeloid leukemia identifies patients with poor clinical prognosis

“…[3][4][5] For example, lymphoid-associated antigens such as CD19, CD7 have been considered adverse prognostic factors for AML patients, [6][7][8] as well as the increased expression of CD34 and bcl-2 protein. [9][10][11] More recently, several studies have addressed the role of CD56 expression in hematological malignancies. In fact, this antigen, an isoform of the neural adhesion molecules (NCAM), has been recorded not only in aggressive non-Hodgkin's T cell lymphomas, 15,16 but also in malignant plasma cells 33 and in several myeloproliferative disorders including acute leukemias.…”

“…[6][7][8][9][10][11] More recently, CD56 antigen, a 200-220 kDa cell surface glycoprotein, identified as an isoform of the neural adhesion molecules (NCAM) [12][13][14] was firstly described as a marker of natural killer cells and subsequently, has also been found expressed in several lympho-hematopoietic neoplasms including acute myeloid leukemias (AML). [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] In fact, it has been previously reported that in AML patients with t(8;21) (q22;q22), generally considered at lower risk of relapse, the presence of CD56 antigen on blast cells may influence complete remission (CR) duration and survival, 23 suggesting that CD56 expression could be useful in stratifying therapeutic approaches for this subtype of AML.…”