BCRP mRNA expression v. clinical outcome in 40 adult AML patients

Uggla, Bertil; Ståhl, Elisabet; Wågsäter, Dick; Paul, Christer; Karlsson, Mats G.; Sirsjö, Allan; Tidefelt, Ulf

doi:10.1016/j.leukres.2004.06.004

« Previous Next »Leukemia Research
Volume 29, Issue 2 , Pages 141-146, February 2005

BCRP mRNA expression v. clinical outcome in 40 adult AML patients

Bertil Uggla
- Department of Medicine, Örebro University Hospital, 701 85 Örebro, Sweden
- Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +46 19 602 1000; fax: +46 602 45 80.
Elisabet Ståhl
- Clinical Research Centre, Örebro University Hospital, 701 85 Örebro, Sweden
Dick Wågsäter
- Department of Caring Science, Örebro University, 701 85 Örebro, Sweden
Christer Paul
- Department of Haematology, Huddinge University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
- Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
Mats G. Karlsson
- Department of Pathology, Örebro University Hospital, 701 85 Örebro, Sweden
Allan Sirsjö
- Department of Caring Science, Örebro University, 701 85 Örebro, Sweden
Ulf Tidefelt
- Department of Medicine, Örebro University Hospital, 701 85 Örebro, Sweden
- Department of Clinical Medicine, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden

Received 20 January 2004; accepted 4 June 2004.

Abstract

Efflux pumps are considered being mechanisms behind drug resistance in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). A recently described efflux pump, breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP), can be expressed in AML, but its clinical importance is uncertain. In this study BCRP mRNA expression was determined in samples from 40 AML patients by real-time RT-PCR. The expression varied from negative to 76 times that of control cells. There was no difference in BCRP mRNA expression between patients responding to induction treatment and non-responders. However, in the group of responders, the 14 patients with the highest expression had significantly shorter overall survival (mean 38 months, SEM 15 months) than the 14 patients with the lowest (74 months, SEM 16 months) (P = 0.047). This suggests a possible role of BCRP in drug resistance in AML.

Keywords: Breast cancer resistance protein, Acute myeloid leukaemia, Drug resistance, Prognosis, Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction