title: BAX/BCL-XL gene expression ratio inversely correlates with disease progression in chronic myeloid leukemia.
abstract: BCR-ABL fusion gene is implicated in the pathogenesis of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), encoding the oncoprotein p210(BCR-ABL) with anti-apoptotic activity. The inability to undergo apoptosis is an important mechanism of drug resistance and neoplastic evolution in CML. The gene transcript expression of mitochondrial apoptotic related genes BAX and BCL-XL was evaluated by quantitative Real Time PCR (qPCR) in vitro in K562 cells and in vivo in peripheral blood of 66 CML patients in different stages of the disease: 13 cases at diagnosis, 34 in chronic phase (CP), 10 in accelerated phase (AP) and 9 in blast crisis (BC). Our results in K562 cells showed that all treatments with different tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) induced a decreased expression of the antiapoptotic oncogene BCL-XL, whereas the proapoptotic gene BAX remains constant with minor modifications. A significantly lower BAX/BCL-XL expression ratio (mean±SEM) than a group of healthy individuals (4.8±0.59) were observed in CML patients at diagnosis (1.28 ± 0.16), in AP (1.14±0.20), in BC (1.16±0.30) and in 18% of cases of patients in CP (2.71±0.40). Most CP cases (82%) showed a significantly increased ratio (10.03±1.30), indicating that the treatment with TKIs efficiently inhibited the expression of BCL-XL by blocking BCR-ABL oncoprotein. The BAX/BCL-XL ratio showed a significant inverse correlation (Spearman P<0.0001) with BCR-ABL/ABL relative expression indicating that low BAX/BCL-XL was associated with disease progression. Accordingly, the follow up of a cohort of eight cases during 6months from diagnosis showed that while the BAX/BCL-XL ratio rapidly increased after treatment in seven cases with good evolution, it decreased in the single case that showed rapid evolution and short survival. Our data suggest that BAX/BCL-XL expression ratio may be a sensitive monitor of disease progression and an early predictor of TKI therapy responsiveness in CML patients.
authors: Instituto de Investigaciones Hematológicas Mariano R. Castex, Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors: Mariana S
authors: MS
authors: Gonzalez
authors: Carlos D
authors: CD
authors: De Brasi
authors: Michele
authors: M
authors: Bianchini
authors: Patricia
authors: P
authors: Gargallo
authors: Beatriz
authors: B
authors: Moiraghi
authors: Raquel
authors: R
authors: Bengió
authors: Irene B
authors: IB
authors: Larripa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001752:Blast Crisis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D018450:Disease Progression; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015973:Gene Expression Regulation, Leukemic; D006801:Humans; D020014:K562 Cells; D015464:Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D015996:Survival Rate; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D051020:bcl-X Protein / Q000096:biosynthesis*
chemical_list: C494826:BAX protein, human; C494811:BCL2L1 protein, human; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein; D051020:bcl-X Protein