[Prognostic value of the expression of MDR-1 in acute myeloid leukemia]

An important number of patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) experience relapse or resistance to chemotherapy. One of the mechanisms involved in this resistance is the presence of glycoprotein P170 (gp-P 170), which results of the MDR-1 gene in leukemic cells. The objective of this article is to assess the prognostic impact of the expression of MDR-1 in a group of patients treated for AML. The expression of MDR-1 was retrospectively assessed in a cohort of 55 patients with AML, older than 16 years old, who received chemotherapy from 1990 to 2000. The presence of MDR-1/gp-P170 was evaluated on bone marrow biopsy by immunohisto-chemistry. A ROC curve established that an expression of > 50% of MDR-1 on blastic cells was significant for the achievement of complete remission. The expression of MDR-1+ correlated with the presence of leucocytosis (p:0.002), expression of CD34+ cells (p:0.006), less achievement of complete remission (p:0.001), more rate of relapse (p:0.02) and of non-favorable cytogenetics (p:0.02). The event-free survival was of 21.2% SE:9.3 with a follow up of 22 months for the group of MDR-1+ versus 56.4% SE 12.5 with a follow-up of 78 months for the MDR-1-group (p:0.007). It can be concluded that the expression of MDR-1 is a prognostic factor of resistance to chemotherapy. These patients present a lower rate of complete remission, a higher rate of relapse with persistence of post treatment residual disease, which produces a shorter global survival.