Expression of FLT3 in elderly patient’s acute myeloid leukemia

Objective To investigate expression level of FLT3 in elderly patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and evaluate the role of FLT3 in elderly AML patients and its clinical significance.Methods The semi-quantitative RT- PCR method was performed to detect the expression levels of FLT3 in the bone marrowsamples of 36 elderly patients with AML, and 11 samples of benign hemopoietic patients. Results The expression level of FLT3 was significantly higher in elderly AML patients than the control group(P0.001). The expression level of the refractory or relapse AML was the highest, de novo AML was in the middle and the complete remission AML was the lowest. The differences of FLT3 expression level in three groups were statistic significan(tP0.05).Conclusion The over expression of FLT3 may play an important role in leukemogenesis. The expression level of FLT3 is correlated with progression and prognosis of elderly patients with AML. It has the potential to use as a mark to monitor the minimal residual disease.