Wilms' tumor protein and FLT3-internal tandem duplication expression in patients with de novo acute myeloid leukemia

Bone marrow samples of 30 patients with de novo adult acute myeloid leukemia (AML) were analyzed for Wt1 and FLT3-internal tandem duplication (FLT3-ITD) expression measured by western blot and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis, respectively. Wt1 was detected in 53.3% of AML patients (16/30), while FLT3-ITD in 23.3% (7/30). The high Wt1 expression correlated with the presence of FLT3-ITD (P=0.014) and lower rate of complete remission (P=0.023). The cumulative survival in AML patients was affected significantly by the presence of FLT3-ITD, being lower in the FLT3-ITD (+) group (6.0 +/- 2.4 months) compared to the FLT3-ITD (-) patients (17.9 +/- 3.3; P=0.04). The expression of FLT3-ITD could probably activate Wt1 expression in AML blast cells and thus might contribute to its oncogenic function to provide cells with survival advantages in vivo. The detection of both molecular markers (Wt1 and/or FLT3-ITD) may be helpful in defining high risk AML patients that need special therapeutic strategies.