Apoptosis in vivo: measurement and significance
in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Gao YJ, Wu Y, Chen XY
Children’s Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Objective: Measurement of apoptosis in vivo and determination its
significance in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
Method: We detected apoptosis on bone marrow lymphoblasts from 22
children with newly diagnosed ALL using Annexin-V binding assay and
discussed the relationship between apoptosis in vivo and treatment outcome
and clinical characteristics.
Results: Failure to detect apoptotic cells in all cases
pre-chemotherapy. During
chemotherapy, 13/22 cases were apoptosis positive. Apoptosis in vivo during
chemotherapy was related to early response to therapy, DNA ploidy and
immunophenotype (p<0.05), but was no relation to WBC counts, age, sex
and extramedullary infiltrations (p>0.05).
Conclusion: Annexin-V binding assay is a convenient and sensitive test for
detecting apoptosis in vivo; the response by apoptosis is concordance with
early treatment outcome, and might explain the prognostic value of DNA
ploidy and immunophenotype in childhood ALL.