Aven and Survivin Expression in Egyptian Acute Leukemia and Their Relation to Apoptosis

Abstract

Background:

Several anti apoptotic signals have been recently identified. Aven and Survivin are broadly expressed and are conserved in mammalian species. Patients and Methods: 39 AML and 25 ALL were tested. Aven and Survivin expression were detected by RT-PCR. DNA fragmentation was carried out daily after treatment..

Results:

Survivin was expressed (P=0.06) more in AML (74%) than in ALL (52%). While, Aven was equally expressed in both leukemias. Patients were categorized into 3 groups based on DNA fragmentation. Absence of Aven significantly (p&x2039;0.001) contributed to DNA fragmentation,but Survivin did not contribute as much. None of the concordant both positive Survivin and Aven were in group III (the good 5 day fragmentation, (P< 0.001). Survivin was statistically related to CD7 expression (P<0.001) in AML only. There was a significant dissociation between Aven and Survivin in AML (p=0.03) and near significant dissociation in ALL (p=0.07). Conclusion: Aven seems to be more important as an inhibitor of apoptosis than survivin in acute leukemia. The presence of both confers a survival disadvantage and a significantly worse DNA fragmentation pattern suggesting a synergistic inhibition of apoptosis. The highly significant relation between CD7 and survivin expression might suggest their involvement in a common signal transduction pathway.