INCREASED EXPRESSION OF MULTIDRUG RESISTANCE GENE (MDR1) AT RELAPSE IN A CHILD WITH ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC LEUKEMIA

• Published in: Pediatric hematology and oncology Vol. 23; no. 6; pp. 489 - 494
• Main Authors: Kourti, Maria, Vavatsi, Norma, Gombakis, Nikolaos, Tzimagiorgis, George, Sidi, Vasiliki, Koliouskas, Dimitrios, Athanassiadou, Fani
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Informa UK Ltd 01-09-2006; Taylor & Francis
• Subjects: acute lymphoblastic leukemia; ATP-Binding Cassette, Sub-Family B, Member 1 - genetics; childhood; Female; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Humans; Infant; multidrug resistance gene; Neprilysin; Precursor B-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma - genetics; Precursor B-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma - pathology; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma - genetics; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma - pathology; Recurrence; RNA, Messenger - analysis
• ISSN: 0888-0018; 1521-0669
• DOI: 10.1080/08880010600719303

Modern treatment protocols lead to complete remission in a high proportion of patients with childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). However, a large number of them show a relapse of the disease. Treatment failure in these patients is mainly attributable to de novo or acquired resistance to a wide variety of cytotoxic drugs, which is called multi drug resistance (MDR). Expression of multi drug resistance 1 gene (MDR1) is implicated in the drug-resistance mechanism. In order to contribute further information we present a rare case of a 15-month old girl with newly diagnosed CALLA positive pre-B acute lymphoblastic leukemia with favourable prognostic factors at diagnosis who experienced a relapse of the disease. Using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction method, m-RNA expression of the MDR1 gene upon relapse, was five-fold compared with that at diagnosis. This is the first report on increased mRNA expression at relapse in a paired sample of a child with ALL in our region.