P-glycoprotein and drug resistance in acute leukemias and in the blastic crisis of chronic myeloid leukemia.

The aim of this work is to evaluate the relationship between P-glycoprotein expression in circulating blasts and clinical response in patients suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia, acute non-lymphoblastic leukemia, and chronic myeloid leukemia in either lymphoid or myeloid blastic crisis. The results obtained show that: a) patients whose blasts express P-glycoprotein are resistant towards protocols including Doxorubicin, Daunorubicin, Etoposide, Mithramycin, Vincristine; b) P-glycoprotein can be expressed constitutively in some cases; c) P-glycoprotein does not appear to be the only mechanism responsible for resistance towards anthracyclines and Etoposide.