Prognostic Significance of CD56 Antigen Expression in Patients with Non-M3 Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous group of disorders with distinct characteristics and prognoses. Although cytogenetic changes and gene mutations are associated with AML prognosis, there is a need to identify further factors. CD56 is considered a prognostic factor for AML, which is abnormally expressed in leukemia cells. However, a clear consensus for this surface molecule is lacking, which has prompted us to investigate its prognostic significance. Bone marrow samples of non-M3 AML were collected to detect CD56 expression using multiparameter flow cytometry (FCM). As a result, the CD56 expression in non-M3 AML was found to be significantly higher than that in acute lymphoma leukemia (ALL, = 0.017) and healthy controls ( = 0.02). The X-Tile program produced a CD56 cutoff point at a relative expression level of 24.62%. Based on this cutoff point, high CD56 expression was observed in 29.21% of non-M3 AML patients. CD56 patients had a poor overall survival (OS, = 0.015) compared to CD56 patients. Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) improved OS ( = 0.004), but a poor genetic risk was associated with an inferior OS ( = 0.002). Compared with CD56 patients, CD56 patients had lower peripheral blood platelet (PLT) counts ( = 0.010). Our research confirmed that high CD56 expression is associated with adverse clinical outcomes in non-M3 AML patients, indicating that CD56 could be used as a prognostic marker for a more precise stratification of non-M3 AML patients.