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Multidrug resistance 1 gene expression and AgNOR in childhood acute leukemias

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Abstract

The multidrug resistance 1 (MDR1) gene product, P-glycoprotein (Pgp/p170) is a membrane protein, which acts as an ATP dependant efflux pump that expels a wide variety of organic compounds including chemotherapeutic agents from the cell. Pgp over expression has been demonstrated to be linked with poor treatment outcome and poor prognosis in a number of malignant tumors. AgNORs is a simple, reliable and inexpensive method of evaluating the proliferative activity of a tumor. We have studied MDR1 expression and AgNORS in 41 cases of acute leukemia in children. In this study, AgNOR counts in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) L2 subtype (FAB classification) were significantly higher as compared to the ALL L1 subtype. Similarly, mean AgNOR count in the acute myeloid Leukemia (AML) M2 subtype was significantly higher as compared to the ALL L1 subtype. However, there was no correlation between AgNOR and treatment outcome or between AgNOR counts and MDR1 expression in any of the subtypes of acute leukemia included in this series. In AML, MDR1 gene expression was found to be related to reduced remission induction rates and hence poorer prognosis. In ALL, our study has shown no difference in remission induction between MDR1 positive and MDR1 negative cases. This would suggest that factors other than MDR1 may be of relevance in Pediatric ALL.

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Abbreviations

ALL:

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia

AML:

Acute myeloid leukemia

MDR1:

Multidrug resistance 1

Pgp:

P-glycoprotein

AgNOR:

Nucleolar organizer regions

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of pathology, Madras Medical College, Chennai, 600 002, India

    S. Balamurugan

  2. Dept. of Hematology Oncology, Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children, Egmore, Chennai, 600 008, India

    D. Sugapriya, P. Shanthi & V. Thilaka

  3. Dr. A. L. Mudaliar Post-graduate Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Madras, Taramani Campus, Chennai, 600 113, India

    S. Venkatadesilalu, V. Pushpa & M. Madhavan

Authors
  1. S. Balamurugan
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  2. D. Sugapriya
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  3. P. Shanthi
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  4. V. Thilaka
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  5. S. Venkatadesilalu
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  6. V. Pushpa
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  7. M. Madhavan
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Correspondence to P. Shanthi.

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Balamurugan, S., Sugapriya, D., Shanthi, P. et al. Multidrug resistance 1 gene expression and AgNOR in childhood acute leukemias. Indian J Hematol Blood Transfus 23, 73–78 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12288-008-0002-2

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