A possible correlation between interferon-stimulated gene expression and cytogenetic responses in chronic myelogenous leukemia patients treated with α-interferon

Abstract

We studied the expression of the interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs), ISG-54 and 2′,5′-oligoadenylate synthetase (2′-5′ OAS), using the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction in 22 patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), who were treated with α-interferon (α-IFN). At the time of diagnosis, 7 patients (31.8%) showed no detectable expression of either gene, whereas 8 expressed both. The remaining 7 expressed neither ISG-54 nor 2′-5′ OAS. After α-IFN treatment, 5 of the 7 CML patients who had not previously expressed ISGs expressed either ISG-54 or 2′-5′ OAS or both and 6 of the 7 who had previously expressed either ISG-54 or 2′-5′ OAS expressed both. Three of the 7 (42.9%) CML patients who expressed both genes before and after α-IFN administration showed cytogenetic responses, as did 6 of the 11 (54.5%) in whom ISG expression was induced. In contrast, cytogenetic responses occurred in none of the patients in whom ISG expression was not induced. These results suggest that induction of ISG-54 and 2′-5′ OAS expression by α-IFN may be an indicator of cytogenetic responses and, therefore, of value for monitoring CML patients.