Acute Myeloid Leukemia Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Acute Myeloid Leukemia, including details on aml, symptoms, treatment, information. | ||||||||
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Elevated expression of the AF1q gene, an MLL fusion partner, is an independent adverse prognostic factor in pediatric acute myeloid leukemia.Tse W, Meshinchi S, Alonzo TA, Stirewalt DL, Gerbing RB, Woods WG, Appelbaum FR, Radich JP Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, USA. wwt3@case.edu. The AF1q gene, a mixed-lineage leukemia fusion partner, is highly expressed in hematopoietic progenitor cells but has low expression in differentiated cells. We determined the expression of the AF1q gene by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction in 64 pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients treated on Children's Cancer Group clinical trial CCG-2891 and correlated its expression level to clinical characteristics and outcome. AF1q expression in patients varied from 0- to 154-fold compared with normal marrow, and increasing expression level was associated with worsening survival, with a hazard ratio of 1.02 per fold increase in AF1q expression (P = .032). We divided patients into tertile groups based on AF1q expression level. Patients with high AF1q expression (top tertile) had a higher predominance of French-American-British M1 compared to patients with lower 2 tertiles of AF1q expression (43% vs 9%, P = .003). High AF1q expression was associated with poor survival in univariate and multivariate models. Overall survival at 8 years for patients with the high AF1q expression was 19% versus 50% in patients with low AF1q expression, (P = .01). AF1q expression may correlate with clinical outcome in pediatric AML, although it is not clear if AF1q is simply a marker of a more primitive phenotype or contributes directly to leukemogenesis. Published 4 November 2004 in Blood, 104(10): 3058-63.
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