Specific pattern of protein expression in acute myeloid leukemia harboring FLT3-ITD mutations.
FLT3 activating mutations can be detected in about 35% of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). FLT3 internal tandem duplications (FLT3-ITD) represent the majority of FLT3 mutations (25 - 30%) while FLT3-TKD (tyrosine kinase domain) mutations can be found in about 7% of AML patients. In this study, we addressed the question whether especially primary AML cells carrying FLT3-ITD mutations show differences in terms of their protein expression pattern compared to FLT3 wild-type blasts. We investigated bone marrow samples that were isolated at diagnosis from 36 AML patients expressing either FLT3 wild-type (n = 16) or an activating FLT3 mutation (FLT3-ITD, n = 15; FLT3-TKD, n = 5). Proteomic analysis was performed by means of surface enhanced laser desorption/ionization-time of flight (SELDI-TOF) mass spectrometry which has shown its high efficiency in finding biomarkers in solid tumors. Here, we demonstrate that a large series of proteins is differently expressed in primary AML blasts harboring FLT3-ITD mutations. Furthermore, there are also significant differences of the protein expression profile between FLT3-ITD and FLT3-TKD mutations. Interestingly, further analysis of FLT3-ITD positive AML according to its response to the induction chemotherapy demonstrates putative prognostic markers for this subgroup of AML. We suggest that SELDI-TOF mass spectrometry represents a promising tool of proteomic analysis of AML that might help to establish new prognostic markers in AML.
Scholl
Sebastian
S
Department of Internal Medicine II (Oncology and Hematology), Institute of Human Genetics and Anthropology at Universitätsklinikum, Jena, Germany. sebastian.scholl@med.uni-jena.de
Melle
Christian
C
Bleul
Annett
A
Spies-Weisshart
Baerbel
B
Kunert
Christa
C
Höffken
Klaus
K
von Eggeling
Ferdinand
F
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009154:Mutation; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; D020080:Tandem Repeat Sequences; D051941:fms-Like Tyrosine Kinase 3 / Q000235:genetics*
D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; C497970:FLT3 protein, human; D051941:fms-Like Tyrosine Kinase 3