Prognostic Value of CD34 Expression in Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treated by Conventional Chemothearpy.

Although many studies have been performed to evaluate the prognostic significance of CD34 expression in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the results have been controversial so far. This retrospective study was conducted to assess the prognostic implication of CD34 antigen expression for the patients with AML. To evaluate the prognostic implication of CD34 antigen expression, we have retrospectively analyzed the clinicopathological parameters and therapeutic outcomes to the conventional standard chemotherapy in 42 patients AML, who could not be treated by stem cell transplantation by any causes. The expression of CD34 antigen on the leukemic blasts was analyzed by direct flow cytometry immunofluorescence method. The outcome measure was the complete remission (CR) rate and overall survival. CD34 antigen was positive in 66.7% of cases with acute myeloid leukemia. There were no significant differences between CD34 positive and CD34 negative cases with respect to sex, age, and white blood cell count. CD34 expression was associated with the co-expression of CD7 and CD19 (p=0.001 & 0.022 respectively). CD34 expression had no significant effect on CR (CD34⁺ vs CD34, 68% vs 64%) and overall survival (5YSR: CD34⁺ vs CD34⁻, 25% vs 29%). It appears that CD34 expression in AML is not the marker of the poor prognosis for CD34⁺ AML patients who are treated by conventional chemotherapy. Further studies for the co-expression with CD7 and CD19 are needed to determine the significance of CD34 in AML.