Analysis of drug resistance-associated proteins expressions of patients with the recurrent of acute leukemia via protein microarray technology.

INTRODUCTION: To detect the expressions of drug-resistance related proteins in bone marrow mononuclear cells of acute leukemia (AL) patients using protein microarray and to analyze the clinical value of protein microarray in predicting prognosis of AL patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 48 AL patients received chemotherapy were divided into four groups: recurrent acute myeloid leukemia group (R-AML; n=15); AML continue remission group (AML-CR; n = 13); recurrent acute lymphocytic leukemia group (R-ALL; n=13); and ALL-CR group (n=7). Fifteen age-matched patients with non-hematologic disease were used as controls. RESULTS: Expression levels of P-gp, LRP/MVP, BCL-2, GST-pi, PCNA, CXCR4 were increased significantly in both AML-R and ALL-R groups (p < 0.05). Besides, LFA-1 and TRAIL-R were also up-expressed significantly in ALL-R group (p < 0.05). In addition, the levels of P-gp, GST-pi expressed in AML-R group were higher than those in AML-CR group (p < 0.05) and P-gp, LRP/MVP, GST-pi, LFA-1 and CXCR4 in ALL-R were expressed higher than those in ALL-CR group (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The recurrent of AL were related closely to the over expression of drug resistance-related proteins. Protein microarray can be used in the prediction of AL recurrence and would be beneficial in guiding individual therapy and patient prognosis.