Predicting the chemotherapeutic efficacy in acute leukemia by cell apoptosis in vivo 24 hours after chemotherapy

Objective:To investigate the relationship between apoptosis in vivo and chemotherapy in acute leukemia in order to provide an early index for the prediction of clinical chemotherapy reponse.Method:The in vivo apoptosis before and 24 hours after chemotherapy was detected with flow cytometer by an early apoptosis marker Annexin V.Result:The apoptosis of leukemic cells before chemotherapy was ( 5.74± 2.47)% and obviously increased 24 hours after chemotherapy ( 9.77± 3.54)%,P 0.001). 12 patients achieved complete remission (CR), 1 partial remission (PR) and 12 non-remission (NR). CR and PR patients were defined as efficient group and NR patients as failure group. The apoptosis rate of efficient group increased ( 5.91± 3.48)% 24 hours after chemotherapy ( 11.45± 3.09)%; the apoptosis rate 24 hours after chemotherapy of failure group was ( 8.15± 3.66)%,and apoptosis cells increased ( 2.28± 3.58)%. Apoptosis induced by chemotherapeutics was significantly increased in the efficient group compared with the failure group (P 0.05). Its specificity and sensitivity were 83.3% and 84.6% respectively.Conclusion:In vivo aoptosis detected by flow cytometry Annexin V assay is a sensitive and early index to predict clinical efficacy.