Serum Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor and p53 in Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Abstract
Background: Acute myeloid leukemia is a clonal hemat-opoietic disorder that may be derived from either a hemat-opoietic stem cell or a lineage-specific progenitor cell. AML is characterized both by a predominance of immature forms and loss of normal hematopoiesis. p53 is a cell cycle check point control protein that detects DNA damage, controls cell growth, DNA repair and apoptosis. EGFR belongs to a family of receptor tyrosine kinases, it plays an important role in many cancers. Since both markers have a role in cell cycle control, we hypothesized that both p53 and EGFR may have a role in AML.
Aim of Study: It was to estimate the levels of p53 and EGFR in the serum of patients with AML.
Patients and Methods: The study was carried out on forty newly diagnosed AML patients who were selected from Hemato-Oncology Unit, Internal Medicine Department, Tanta University Hospitals. Also on twenty apparently healthy subjects with matched age and sex served as a control group. All studied subjects were subjected to full history, complete physical examination, estimation of p53 and EGFR levels by ELISA. Data was analyzed by using SPSS.
Results: The results demonstrated a significant increase of serum p53 and EGFR levels in AML patients group com-pared to control group. A positive significant correlation was noted between p53 and EGFR. Follow-up of patients' group for 18 months revealed that all patients with low p53 and EGFR levels showed good response to therapy and achieved complete remission while patients with high p53 and EGFR levels showed poor outcome.
Conclusion: Estimation of both p53 and EGFR levels could be useful as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in AML patients either alone or in combination with other biomarkers.