title: CD34 expression is associated with poor clinical outcome in patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia.
abstract: This study investigated the clinical characteristics and prognostic relevance of CD34 expression in 47 patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), showing t(15;17) or PML/RARalpha. Ten (21.3%) of the APL patients were CD34(+). CD34 expression was associated with hypogranular morphology (P = 0.002) and hyperleukocytosis (P = 0.015). However, there were no statistically significant differences in age, sex, hemoglobin level, platelet count, or percentage of blasts between the CD34(+) and CD34(-) APL groups. Multiplex RT-PCR analysis showed that the L-form (BCR1) and S-form (BCR3) were correlated with CD34(-) APL and CD34(+) APL, respectively. Despite the lack of a difference in the complete remission rate, overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were significantly lower in the CD34(+) group than in the CD34(-) group (P = 0.012 and P = 0.0051, respectively). By multivariate analysis, the CD34(+) group showed a significant independent variable in DFS compared with the CD34(-) group, but this was not demonstrated for OS. In conclusion, CD34 expression in APL is a unique clinical feature associated with leukocytosis and atypical morphology with hypogranular pattern and is associated with a poor clinical outcome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea.
authors.forename: Je-Jung
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Duck
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Ik-Joo
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Sang-Hee
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Kyeong-Soo
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Moo-Rim
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Dong-Wook
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Ryang
authors.forename: Hyeoung-Joon
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000097:blood*; D018952:Antigens, CD34 / Q000097:blood*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001772:Blood Cell Count; D002884:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 15; D002886:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 17; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015473:Leukemia, Promyelocytic, Acute / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015996:Survival Rate; D013997:Time Factors; D014178:Translocation, Genetic; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D018952:Antigens, CD34; D015415:Biomarkers