Gene Expression at Diagnosis Does Not Predict for Outcome of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Patients on Imatinib Treatment

SOCS gene expression at diagnosis has been suggested as a predictor of clinical outcome in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). In this study and expression levels were determined by real-time PCR in pretherapeutic samples at diagnosis. First, three patient groups were compared after assessment at 48 months: optimal molecular responders ( = 35), patients with resistance to imatinib ( = 28), and blast crisis patients ( = 27). A significant difference in gene expression at diagnosis was observed comparing blast crisis vs. resistant patients ( = 0.042) and optimal responders ( = 0.010). Second, a validation sample of consecutively randomized patients ( = 123) was investigated. No discriminative gene expression cutoff could be derived to predict molecular or cytogenetic response, progression-free or overall survival. Although gene was differentially expressed at the time of diagnosis in blast crisis patients when compared to other groups, a prognostic impact in consecutively randomized patients was not observed.