GENETIC VARIATIONS AND CLINICAL ANALYSES OF P53, BCL-2 AND BAX IN ACUTE LEUKEMIA

Purpose: To investigate genetic variations in p53, bcl-2 and bax in acute leukemia and their relationship with clinical features and chemotherapeutic efficacy. Methods: A total of 152 patients were recruited for this study, and they were divided into two groups: acute leukemia group and control group. There were 100 patients in the acute leukemia group which comprised 51 males and 49 females within the age range 17-66 years (mean age = 36.77 +/- 5.61 years). Based on the classification criteria for FAB, there were 56 cases with acute myeloid leukemia and 44 cases with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The control group consisted of 52 patients with non-hematological malignancies within the same period. The expressions of p53, bcl-2 and bax genes in the two groups of patients were measured using immuno-histochemical staining. Results: The positive expressions of p53, bcl-2 and bax genes in the control group were significantly lower (p < 0.05) than those of the acute leukemia group. There were no significant differences (p > 0.05) in the expressions of these genes between the AML and ALL groups. There were significant differences in the expressions of p53, bcl-2 and bax genes between the different FAB typing of AML. No significant differences were seen in the expressions of p53, bcl-2 and bax genes between the different FAB types of ALL (p. 0.05). The effective positive expressions of p53, bcl-2 and bax genes in patients with acute leukemia were significantly lower (p < 0.05) than those of control. Conclusion: These results suggest that mutant p53, bcl-2 and bax participate in the onset of acute leukemia, and are associated with its clinical characteristics such as typing and chemotherapeutic efficacy. Thus, they may be used as markers in the treatment and prognosis of acute leukemia.