Objective: To investigate the CD25 expression in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and its significance.
Methods: Clinical data of 168 newly diagnosed AML patients (except APL) were collected. The expression of CD25 in AML patients and its clinical characteristics were retrospectively analyzed.
Results: The leukemia cells of 29 out of 168 cases (17.26%) expressed CD25 antigen. Most of CD25 positive AML patients were occurred in patients with unfavourable or normal karyotype, higher WBC and Plt count at diagnosis and higher percentage of blasts in peripheral blood and bone marrow. Compared with CD25(-) AML patients, CD25(+) AML patients had lower CR rate (the CR rate of 1 course of treatment were 49.02% and 16.00%, respectively, P < 0.05, the CR rate of 2 courses of treatment were 74.60% and 46.67%, respectively, P < 0.05), and the OS time of CD25(+) AML patients were obviously shorter (P < 0.05). The OS in CD25(+) AML patients with unfavorable karyotype were not significantly different from that in patients with intermediate karyotype (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: The CD25(+) AML patients have some typical clinical features, and the expression of CD25 in AML is an risk factor independent of the chromosome karyotype in terms of low complete remission rate and short survival time.