High expression of FCHSD2 is associated with chemoresistance in adult acute myeloid leukemia

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a clonal disease, characterized by the growth and accumulation of immature cells in the bone marrow, which in turn affects production of normal blood cells. Increasing need for biomarkers that can predict the outcome of treatment are becoming of potential value because of the heterogenous response to induction chemotherapy. FCHSD2 was identified as a potential chemoprotector. In the present study, we used qRT-PCR to assess FCHSD2 expression levels in peripheral blood or bone marrow blasts of 50 de novo AML patients before remission induction chemotherapy. There was higher expression levels of mRNA in AML patients than control group median (1.36, 0.70), respectively. Patients were subgrouped into responders(R) and nonresponders (NR) after remission induction therapy. The mean expression level of FCHSD2 mRNA in responders (32/50) was 1.7 ± 2.8, while it was 7.9 ± 6.6 in NR (18/50). Our results demonstrated that the patients with lower FCHSD2 expression prior to the treatment had an increased chance of attaining remission compared to patients with high-level FCHSD2. In conclusion, our data suggests that FCHSD2 can serve as a new biomarker for the prediction of treatment outcome in AML patients. The quantitation of FCHSD2 expression at the time of diagnosis could help to identify the responses to chemotherapy. © 2013, Springer-Verlag London.