ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the clinical feature of adult acute myeloid leukemia with nucleophosmin (NPM1) cytoplastic positive (NPMc+AML), and to investigate the significance of the NPM1 gene mutations regularly in detecting the early relapse. Methods The NPM1 gene mutations was screened by the PCR-capillary electrophoresis in 95 newly diagnosed adult AML patients. 5 complete remission AML patients were selected to detecte the NPM1 gene mutations regularly. Results In 95 cases of adult AML patients, the incidence of the NPM1 mutations was 9.5 % (28/95). The incidence of the NPM1 mutations in patients (≥40-year-old) was higher clearly than it' s in pazients (40-year-old) (λ 2= 6.963, P = 0.012). That in the AML patients with normal karyotype (51.1%) was higher than that in the patients with abnormal karyotype (8.3 %) (λ2= 20.860, P= 0.0000). NPM1 mutations occured with a considerate percentage in AML patients with M5/M2 subtype. In AML with recurrent genetic abnormalities the NPM1 mutations wasn' t found.The white blood cell count, platelet count, lactate dehydrogenase in the NPMc+AML patients were clearly higher than that in the NPMc-AML patients (t were individually 4.132, 4.603, 4.069, P ＜0.05). The rate of complete remission, relapse-free survival and overall survival in the NPMc+AML patients were also higher than that in the N PMc-AML patients (λ 2 were individually 10.448, 4.146, 4.384, P ＜0.05). In cases detected regularly NPM1 mutations preceded the hematological relapse about 1.5-2 months. Conclusion NPM1 gene mutations has a higher incidence in adult AML, particularly in normal karyotype AML. The clinical manifestations are older, and higher in white blood cell count, platelet count, and lactate dehydrogenase. The NPM1 mutations in adult AML is a good factor for prognosis. The regular detection of NPM1 mutation could find relapse early.