Mechanisms of drug resistance in acute myeloid leukemia

Abstract

Jing Zhang, Yan Gu, Baoan Chen Department of Hematology and Oncology, Zhongda Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, People’s Republic of China Abstract: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a kind of malignant hematopoietic system disease characterized by abnormal proliferation, poor cell differentiation, and infiltration of bone marrow, peripheral blood, or other tissues. To date, the first-line treatment of AML is still based on daunorubicin and cytosine arabinoside or idarubicin and cytosine arabinoside regimen. However, the complete remission rate of AML is still not optimistic, especially in elderly patients, and the recurrence rate after complete remission is still high. The resistance of leukemia cells to chemotherapy drugs becomes the main obstacle in the treatment of AML. At present, the research on the mechanisms of drug resistance in AML is very active. This article will elaborate on the main mechanisms of drug resistance currently being studied, including drug resistance-related proteins and enzymes, gene alterations, micro RNAs, and signal pathways. Keywords: drug resistance, P-glycoprotein, gene alterations, signaling pathway  

Keywords

• acute myeloid leukemia
• drug resistance
• P-glycoprotein
• signaling pathway