title: Interleukin-3 receptor α chain (CD123) is preferentially expressed in immature T-ALL and may not associate with outcomes of chemotherapy.
abstract: Interleukin-3 (IL-3) receptor α chain (CD123) plays an essential role in regulating the proliferation of hematopoietic stem cells. In the hematopoietic malignancies, CD123 expression has been found in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), as well as dendritic cell malignancies. However, whether CD123 is also expressed in T-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) remains unknown. Using multi-parameter flow cytometry, we analyzed CD123 expression in 160 consecutive diagnostic T-ALL patients, including 88 pediatric T-ALL cases and 72 adult T-ALL cases. The minimal residual disease (MRD) was detected after one course of induction therapy to evaluate the treatment effects. CD123 expression was detected in 24 out of 88 (27 %) pediatric T-ALLs and 30 out of 72 (42 %) adult T-ALLs. Further analysis revealed that CD123 expression is associated with the maturation stage of T-ALLs. The frequencies of CD123-positive cases decreased from 83 to 40 % and 21 % in early T-precursor ALLs, T-precursor ALLs, and mature T-ALLs, respectively. Interestingly, we detected the CD4+CD8+ double-positive leukemic cells in 22 immature and 34 mature T-ALL patients. Of note, only 4 % of these patients expressed CD123. In addition, we found that 79 % of CD33+ and 64 % of CD117+ immature T-ALL patients also expressed CD123. However, CD123 expression did not predict the outcomes of the first course of induction therapy in T-ALL patients. In conclusion, we found that CD123 is preferentially expressed in immature T-ALL. Moreover, CD123 expression is strongly associated with cross-lineage expression of myeloid markers in early T-precursor ALL.
authors.affiliation: Center for Stem Cell Research and Application, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 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, 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, 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, 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, China.
authors.forename: Junxia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Wuhan Kindstar Diagnostics Co., Ltd, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Wuhan Kindstar Diagnostics Co., Ltd, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Center for Stem Cell Research and Application, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China. enij@sina.com.
authors.forename: Jine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D053650:Interleukin-3 Receptor alpha Subunit / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018365:Neoplasm, Residual / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism*; D054218:Precursor T-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit / Q000378:metabolism; D063268:Sialic Acid Binding Ig-like Lectin 3 / Q000378:metabolism; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D053650:Interleukin-3 Receptor alpha Subunit; D063268:Sialic Acid Binding Ig-like Lectin 3; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit
keywords: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia; CD123; Immature; Prognosis