Apoptosis and proliferation differences between CD34+ and CD34- leukemic subpopulations in childhood acute leukemia.

ABSTRACT

In view of the clinical and biological significance of leukemic heterogeneity we studied the efficacy of spontaneous apoptosis and cell cycle distribution in CD34+ and CD34 - leukemic subpopulations. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) leukemic samples with CD34 heterogeneous expression were separated into CD34+ and CD34 - fractions using fluorescence activated cell sorting. Cell cycle distribution, and apoptosis of the sorted subpopulations were estimated. CD34+ leukemic subpopulations had lower ability to apoptosis than that of CD34 - fractions in 6 out of 8 ALL samples and in 4 out of 5 AML samples. CD34+ fractions showed a higher percentage of proliferating cells compared to CD34 - cells in T-lineage ALL. These differences may lead to a more resistant phenotype of one of the subpopulations and reappearance this population in relapse.