[Clinical significance of serum NGF level and CD271 expression in patients with acute B lymphoid leukemia].

The aim of this study was to detect the nerve growth factor (NGF) level in serum and NGF low affinity acceptor CD271 expression on bone marrow leukemic cells in acute B lymphoid leukemia (B-ALL) patients and to analyze their clinical significance. The NGF level in serum and CD271 expression on leukemic cells in bone marrow were detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay and flow cytometry in B-ALL patients respectively. The results indicated that compared with control group, the NGF level in serum of patient group significantly increased (t = 4.191, p < 0.05), but CD271 expression on leukemic cells in bone marrow decreased significantly (t = 4.898, p < 0.05). The complete remission (CR) rate of 25 B-ALL patients was 64% (16/25) after one course of CVAD chemotherapy. There were statistically significant differences of NGF level and CD271 expression in non-remission (NR) group and control group (t = 3.976, p < 0.05 vs t = 5.052, p < 0.05), but there were no statistically difference of NGF level and CD271 expression in CR group (t = 1.102, p > 0.05 vs t = 1.150, p > 0.05) as compared with control group. The CD271 expression before and after chemotherapy between CR and NR groups showed statistically significant differences (t = 3.889, p < 0.05; t = 3.751, p < 0.05 and t = 4.678, p < 0.05 respectively), but NGF level before and after chemotherapy showed no statistical difference between these 2 groups (t = 0.476, p > 0.05). 50% (8/16) patients relapsed during following up, and of their NGF level [(168.00 ± 61.66) pg/ml] and CD271 expression [(52.29 ± 13.00)%] showed the significantly differences, compared with those in control group (t = 5.284, p < 0.05 vs. t = 6.073, p < 0.05), but the NGF level [(81.13 ± 25.32) pg/ml] and CD271 expression [(78.45 ± 7.12)%] of other 8 patients showed no statistical difference as compared with control group (t = 1.228, p > 0.05 vs t = 1.144, p > 0.05). Compared with low NGF level and CD271 low expression groups, the survival time of B-ALL patients with high NGF level and CD271 expression was not changed significantly (p = 0.750 vs p = 0.170). It is concluded that the increased NGF level in serum and decreased CD271 expression on bone marrow leukemic cells in B-ALL patients are related with leukemia development and may be the useful indexes to evaluate curative effect and prognosis.