A Possible Correlation between Interferon-stimulated Gene Expression and Cytogenetic Responses in Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia Patients Treated with  -interferon

We studied the expression of the interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs), ISG-54 and 2',5'-oligoadenylate synthetase (2'-5' OAS), using the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction in 22 patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), who were treated with alpha-interferon (alpha-IFN). At the time of diagnosis, 7 patients (31.8%) showed no detectable expression of either gene, whereas 8 expressed both. The remaining 7 expressed neither ISG-54 nor 2'-5' OAS. After alpha-IFN treatment, 5 of the 7 CML patients who had not previously express ISGs expressed either ISG-54 or 2'5' OAS or both and 6 of the 7 who had previously expressed either ISG-54 or 2'-5' OAS expressed both. Three of the 7 (42.9%) CML patients who expressed both genes before and after alpha-IFN administration showed cytogenetic responses, as did 6 of the 11 (54.5%) in whom ISG expression was induced. In contrast, cytogenetic responses occurred in none of the patients in whom ISG expression was not induced. These results suggest that induction of ISG-54 and 2'-5' OAS expression by alpha-IFN may be an indicator of cytogenetic responses and, therefore, of value for monitoring CML patients.