ITGA7 relates to disease risk, pathological feature, treatment response and survival in Ph- acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Background: This study aimed to investigate clinical involvement of integrin α7 (ITGA7) in Philadelphia-chromosome-negative acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph- ALL). Methods: We sampled bone marrow (BM) from 91 Ph- ALL patients and 20 healthy donors (HDs), detecting ITGA7 expression in BM. Results: ITGA7 was highly expressed in Ph- ALL patients at differentiating values between Ph- ALL patients and HDs. Elevated ITGA7 expression was associated with CNS leukemia (CNSL) occurrence and increased percentage of BM blasts in Ph- ALL patients. Elevated ITGA7 expression was linked with lower complete remission rate (CR), worse event-free survival, and worse overall survival in Ph- ALL patients. Conclusion: ITGA7 highly expressed, correlated with CNSL occurrence and higher BM blasts, furthermore predicts lower CR rate and worse prognosis.