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Assessment of caspase activity as a possible prognostic factor in acute myeloid leukaemia
Author(s) -
Oliver Lisa,
Vavasseur Fabienne,
Mahé Beatrice,
Perrin Pascale,
Harousseau JeanLuc,
Meflah Khaled,
Vallette FrançoisMarie
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
british journal of haematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.907
H-Index - 186
eISSN - 1365-2141
pISSN - 0007-1048
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2141.2002.03640.x
Subject(s) - dna fragmentation , apoptosis , caspase , caspase 3 , effector , caspase 9 , fragmentation (computing) , cancer research , myeloid , biology , immunology , programmed cell death , biochemistry , ecology
Summary. Caspases are one of the key effector molecules in apoptosis. Caspase‐3 activity (identified by cleavage of the peptide DEVD) was analysed in bone marrow blasts (minimum 70%) from 45 acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) patients. 12 patients (25%) exhibited high levels of specific DEVDase activity. These blast cells, despite having activated caspase‐3, displayed none of the classical caspase‐dependent morphological characteristics of apoptosis, such as degradation of DNA fragmentation factor 45, DNA fragmentation, and appeared to be more resistant to drug‐induced apoptosis. Our results suggest that in these AML cells, resistance to apoptosis occurred downstream of caspase‐3 activation.