Background: Several nonrandom chromosomal abnormalities have been identified in acute myeloid leukemia [AML] and are strong determinants of prognostic outcome and therapeutic response. Because clinical outcomes of AML patients with cytogenetic aberrations differ considerably, we hypothesized that their proteomes may also differ, particularly in their expression patterns and protein interaction pathways.

Objective: To study the protein profiling that is related to different karyotypes of AML patients.

Materials and Methods: We performed proteomic analysis using 20 AML samples with various cytogenetic abnormalities including t(8;2l) (n = 4), t(l5;l7) (n = 3), inv(l6) (n = 4), trisomy 8 (n = 3), trisomy ll (n = 3) and trisomy 2l (n = 3). Proteins from bone marrow cells were separated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and the protein profiles were compared among the samples.

Results: Favorable karyotypes, such as t(8;2l), t(l5;l7) and inv(l6), showed similar protein profiles within their own groups but differed from all other subgroups, whereas the trisomy group had similar protein profiles only within the same French-American-British morphological classification. As previously reported, some identified proteins by LC/MS/MS spectrometer, including transgelin-2, were also expressed in leukemic cells from patients or leukemia cell lines.

Conclusion: Unique proteomic patterns were identified in some AML subgroups. AML patients may be further sub- classified using protein profiles generated by this approach in combination with the current standard diagnostic methods.

Keywords: proteomics, leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia, classification, diagnostic methods