Abstract
We retrospectively analyzed the potential of Wilms' tumor gene 1 (WT1) mRNA levels in peripheral blood for predicting the prognosis of 50 patients with AML. After achieving complete remission (CR), 34 patients (69.4%) were determined to be positive and 15 (30.6%) were negative for WT1. The relapse rate of the positive and negative patients was 73.5% and 40.0% (p = 0.02), respectively. After consolidation therapy, only 15 patients (32.6%) were positive and 31 (67.4%) were negative for WT1. Although the relapse rate of the positive and negative patients was 80.0% and 54.8% (p = 0.10), respectively, the rate of relapse within 1 year was 73.3% in positive patients and only 33.3% in negative patients (p = 0.01), respectively. The disease-free survival (DFS) rate at 3 years was 20.0% for positive patients and 50.0% for negative patients (p = 0.01). The overall survival (OS) rate at 3 years was 42.8% in positive patients and 69.8% in negative patients (p = 0.04), respectively. WT1 mRNA levels in the peripheral blood can predict relapse after CR, and its levels after consolidation therapy are closely correlated with DFS, OS, and early relapse.
Acknowledgements
We thank the clinicians and leaders of the 23 institutions for referring their patients to this study and providing the necessary data.
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.