title: Prognostic implications of the presence of FLT3 mutations in patients with acute myeloid leukemia.
abstract: Several studies have shown that mutations in the FLT3 gene are common events in AML, with approximately one third of adult patients harbouring either an internal tandem duplication in the juxtramembrane domain or a D835 mutation in the kinase domain. The majority of studies in pediatric and adult AML have shown that FLT3 mutations are powerful prognostic factors predicting for increased relapse risk and adverse overall survival. Some reports have suggested that loss of the wild type allele might be associated with an even worse prognosis. Changes in the pattern of FLT3 mutations between disease presentation and relapse restrict their value as a marker of minimal residual disease, and have significant implications for therapy. The optimum treatment for patients with FLT3 mutations remains unknown and large prospective studies are warranted to evaluate the efficacy of various treatment modalities such as bone marrow transplantation and targeted therapy with tyrosine kinase inhibitors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Haematology, Royal Free and University College London Medical School, 98 Chenies Mews, London WC1E 6HX, UK. p.kottaridis@ucl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Panagiotis D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Kottaridis
authors.forename: Rosemary E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Gale
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Linch
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005787:Gene Frequency; D006801:Humans; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000235:genetics* / Q000628:therapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D009154:Mutation; D011379:Prognosis; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics*; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000235:genetics; D020080:Tandem Repeat Sequences / Q000235:genetics; D051941:fms-Like Tyrosine Kinase 3
chemical_list: D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; C497970:FLT3 protein, human; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; D051941:fms-Like Tyrosine Kinase 3