title: Development of a simple, blood based lymphoproliferation assay to assess the clinical status of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
abstract: Although childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is highly responsive to chemotherapy, reliable techniques are needed to determine treatment outcome and predict relapse. Employing a 9-O-acetyl sialic acid binding lectin, ATN(H), we have identified two 9-O-acetylated sialogycoconjugates (9-OAcSGs) as novel biomarkers expressed selectively on leukemic blasts of ALL patients. Presently, we report a non-invasive, blood based lymphoproliferation assay, which employs the maximal lymphoproliferative dose of ATN(H) (MLD) to assess the status of 9-OAcSGs with progressive therapy. A low MLD (0.18 +/- 0.01 microg) in untreated patients reflects increased expression of 9-OAcSGs which decline following therapy (MLD = 2.10 +/- 0.60 microg), persist during maintenance therapy (MLD = 4.50 +/- 1.60 microg)/follow-up (MLD = 5.50 +/- 0.85 microg) and are re-induced with relapse (MLD = 0.25 +/- 0.01 microg). Since the assay detects lymphoblasts with a sensitivity of 10(-4), shows no cross-reactivity with other hematological disorders (n = 48) and has been tested in 212 patients, it meets clinical consideration.
authors.affiliation: Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Calcutta.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sinha
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mandal
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Bhattacharya
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003429:Cross Reactions; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000473:pathology; D008232:Lymphoproliferative Disorders / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000187:drug effects; D008934:Mitogens / Q000494:pharmacology; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011379:Prognosis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000473:pathology; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D006023:Glycoproteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D008934:Mitogens