The Expression Of CD133 In Leukemia And Myelodysplastic Syndrome And Its Relationship With CD34 And Prognostic Factors

Objective To evaluate the expression of CD 133 and its clinical significance in leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome(MDS) patients and to explore its relationships with the expression of CD34 and prognostic factors.Methods The expression of CD133 and CD34 in 29 cases of acute myelocytic leukemia(AML),14 cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia(ALL),9 cases of chronic leukemia and 9 cases of MDS studied by using immunocytochemistry.ResuIts (1)The positive rates of CD133 in AML,ALL,chronic leukemia and MDS patients were 55.2%,42.9%,22.2% and 55.6% respectively.(2)The expression of CD133 in AML patients was significantly higher than that in control group(P<0.01).However ,there were no significantly differences in CD133 expression between ALL and normal control,neither were MDS nor chronic leukemia.(3)In all the patients,the expression of CD133 was significantly correlated with the expression of CD34 (P<0.01),especially obvious in AML patients(P<0.01).In ALL patients the expression of CD133 was also correlated with the expression of CD34(P<0.05).(4)The expression of CD133 had no relationship with the clinical prognostic factors such as the percentag of leukemic cell in peripheral blood and in bone marrow, WBC counts, hemoglobin councentration,platelet counts,sex age and LDH level.(5)The expression of CD133 were highly positive in 2 AML patients transformed from MDS.There were no expression of CD133 in chronic neutrophilic leukemia(CNL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia(CLL) patients.Conclusions AML had significantly higher CD133 expression compared with normal controls.The high expression of CD133 might be an adverse prognostic factor of acute leukemia .The expression of CD133 was significantly correlated with the expression of CD34.The expression of CD133 in MDS might indicate its trend toward leukemia.