Simultaneous session on acute myeloid leukemia

He showed that mutant NPM protein binds less ARF protein than normal and this leads to ARF delocalization and degradation, thus promoting oncogenic events.

A novel FLT3-ITD627E mutation has been described by Dr Breitenbucher. This is a novel non JM-ITD that is resistant to PKC412, SU5614 and all the other tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

Dr Rucker showed that characterization of AML with complex karyotypes by microarrays allowed identification of recurrent genomic imbalances. Overexpression of new candidate genes such as ETS family genes was detected.

138 cases of NPM1-mutated/FLT3 ITD negative AML with normal karyotype were screened by gene expression profiling. Dr Bullinger described a distinct gene expression pattern : the amplification of some genes like APP and deregulation of the Notch signaling pathway.

Dr van der Holt told us that MDR1 single nucleotide polymorphisms did not influence MDR function andPgp expression. There is no impact on clinical outcome and SNPs do not exert a major impact on drug resistance in patients with AML.