[Characteristics and clinical significance of CD73 expression in subtypes of leukemia]

The study was purposed to investigate the expression of CD73 on bone marrow nucleated cells (BMMNC) in various leukemia subtypes and its relationship with cell differentiation of leukemia. Immunocytochemistry staining and Wright-Giemsa staining of BMMNC from 75 cases of leukemia, 11 cases of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), 13 cases of non-leukemic patients and 9 healthy adults were performed, and the CD73(+) ratio in BMMNC and its relationship with differentiation of leukemia cells were analyzed. The results showed that the ratios of CD73(+) in BMMNC of com-B ALL, pre-B ALL and PLL were significantly higher than those in B-CLL (p < 0.05). CD73(+) ratios in AML subtypes of M(1), M(2a), t (8; 21), t (15; 17), M(4) and M(5) were markedly higher than those in MDS respectively, but in M(6) and MDS were lower and had no statistical difference between them. CD73(+) ratios in T-ALL, B-CLL, M(6), MDS, non-leukemia patients and healthy adults were close to each other and all of them were lower than those in B-ALL and other AML subtypes. It is concluded that the expression of CD73 is associated with leukemia subtype, differentiation and development. The higher differentiation of leukemia cells, the lower of CD73 expression in myeloid and B lymphoid leukemia, but T-ALL does not meet this pattern.