Clinical value of high expression level of CD71 in acute myeloid leukemia

CD71 (transferrin receptor 1, TfR-1) is a type II membrane glycoprotein and associated closely with tumors. It was recognized as an indication for diagnosing acute erythroid leukemia (AEL). High expression level of CD71 has been identified as a negative prognostic marker for many solid tumors. However, whether CD71 should be identified as an adverse marker in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remained conflicting. We studied 214 AML patients for analysis of clinical and laboratory data. Taking the CD71 expression level of 60% as a standard, we divided our patients into two groups. We discovered that AML with high expression level of CD71 was prone to linked with severe anemia (P=0.004), thrombocytopenia (P<0.001) and complex karyotype (P=0.024) and had increasing expression level of CD117 (P=0.001). No statistically significant correlations in age, gender, WBC counting, molecular markers between the two groups. And moreover, high expression level of CD71 did not alter the pattern of survival time.