title: Cluster of differentiation 96 as a leukemia stem cell-specific marker and a factor for prognosis evaluation in leukemia.
abstract: Resistance to chemotherapy is a major challenge for leukemia treatment. It has been suggested that leukemia stem cells (LSCs), a small pool of self-renewing leukemic cells, play important roles in development of chemotherapy resistance. The expression of cluster of differentiation 96 (CD96), a potential marker for LSCs, was investigated in CD34+CD38-cells of 105 acute leukemia (AL) patients by flow cytometry. The data showed that all the CD34+, CD34+CD38-and CD34+CD38-CD96+proportions were much higher in AL compared to the normal control (P<0.01), while a clear difference was identified in the CD34+CD38-and CD34+CD38-CD96+proportions between acute lymphoid leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). However, all the AML patients with >15% CD34+CD38-cells achieved complete remission (CR), suggesting that as an LSC-rich population, the amount of CD34+CD38-cells may not be positively associated with the proportion of refractory LSCs. The mean percentage of the co-presence of CD96 expression itself was similar in AML patients with CR and non-CR (P>0.05). However, the CR rate was significantly higher in the AML population with <10% CD96 expressed, which indicated that a distinct sub-group of CD34+CD38-CD96+cells may still contribute to the drug resistance or poor prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Center for Stem Cell Research and Application, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: DU
authors.affiliation: Center for Stem Cell Research and Application, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yanjie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Center for Stem Cell Research and Application, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Cong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Center for Stem Cell Research and Application, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Center for Stem Cell Research and Application, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Center for Stem Cell Research and Application, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yanli
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Center for Stem Cell Research and Application, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Tumor Center, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Institute of Hematology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Y U
authors.initials: YU
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Center for Stem Cell Research and Application, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shiang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Center for Stem Cell Research and Application, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Junxia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Center for Stem Cell Research and Application, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jin'e
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zheng
keywords: acute leukemia; cluster of differentiation 96; leukemia stem cells; minimal residual disease; prognosis