Positive Expression of MUC1 Gene Is a Poor Prognostic Factor in Acute Myelogenous Leukemia.

Objective: To study the expression of MUC1 in acute leukemia and its clinical significance.

Methods: Expression of MUC1 mRNA was detected in 73 newly diagnosed and relapsed patients of acute leukemia by reverse transcriptase polymerase reaction(RT-PCR). The MUC1 positive PCR products were analyzed by digestion with pst I. With clinical observation, the relationship of expression of MUC1 gene and treatment results were done.

Results: The expression of MUC1 was positive in 36 of 73 AL patients (49.3%). The MUC1 expression rate was 39.1% in ALL and 52.2% in AML and they show no significance difference. MUC1 gene was undetectable in 23 healthy subjects. Nineteen of 21 (90.5%) MUC1-negative non-M3 acute leukemia patients got CR while 14 of 22 (63.6%) MUC1-positive non-M3 acute leukemia patients got CR which showed significance difference (p<0.05); Only 9 of 16 cases of MUC1-positive non-M3 AML patients got CR(56.3%), while 10 of 11 patients of MUC1-negative non-M3 AML got CR(90.9%). The expression of MUC1 could turn negative after CR. There was no mutation of MUC1 gene correlating with digested site of pst I.

Conclusion: MUC1 expression is observed in some acute leukemia patients. The positive expression of MUC1 is not different between AML and ALL. The AML patients whose MUC1 gene showed positive got lower CR rate. It indicates that the expression of MUC1 can be used as a poor prognostic factor in AML and a marker for detection of minimal residual disease in AL.