The correlation of survivin gene expression with drug resistance in acute leukemia patients

Objective To study the relationship between the gene expression of survivin and drug resistance in patients with acute leukemia (AL).Methods The mRNA expression of survivin and mdr1 were detected in 71 AL patients and 10 controls by semi-quantitative reverse transcriptase polymeras chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique.Results The survivin and mdr1 gene expression rate in cells of AL patients was 67.61% (48/71) and 49.30% (35/71) respectively.survivin expression rate in acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) and acute nonlymphocytic leukemia (ANLL) patients was was significantly higher than that in controls (P0.01 and P0.05 respectively).Detected by semi-quantitative RT-PCR,survivin mRNA expression levels in ANLL and ALL patients (0.64±0.21, 0.63±0.15 respecctively) were significantly higher than those in control group (0.33±0.01,P0.05).The survivin gene expression rate in the treatment resistant group were significantly higher than that in sensitive group (P 0.05).Patients with both positive for survivin and mdr1 had a higher rate of treatment resistant (73.08%),as compared with double negative cases(31.25%,P0.01).Survivin and mdr1 gene expression levels were positively correlated(r=0.754,P0.01) in the 61 newly diagnosed and relapse AL patients.Survivin mRNA expression levels were also correlated with the rate of leukemic cells in the bone marrow(r=0.389,P=0.005).Conclusion Survivin gene overexpression is significantly associated with clinical multidrug resistance.It could be a potential target for treatment of AL.