AbstractBackgroundDeregulation of the apoptotic process underlies the pathogenesis of many cancers, including leukemia, but is also very important for the success of chemotherapy treatment. Therefore, the gene expression profile of main apoptotic factors, such as anti-apoptoticBCL2(B-cell lymphoma protein 2) and pro-apoptoticBAX(BCL2-associated X), as well as genes involved in the multi-drug resistance (ABCB1), could have significant impact on the prognosis and could be used as targets for specific therapy.Patients and methodsWe analyzed the expression ofBCL2,BAX,andABCB1in bone-marrow samples collected at diagnosis from 51 adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia with normal karyotype (AML-NK) using real-time polymerase chain reaction method, and examined their prognostic potential.ResultsIncreased expression ofBCL2(BCL2+) was associated with the presence of chemoresistance (p = 0.024), while patients with lowBAXexpression were more prone to relapse (p = 0.047). Analysis of the combined effect ofBCL2andBAXexpression showed that 87% of patients withBAX/BCL2lowstatus were resistant to therapy (p = 0.044). High expression ofABCB1was associated withBCL2+status (p < 0.001), and with absenceFLT3-ITDmutations (p = 0.019).ConclusionsThe present analysis ofBCL2,BAX,andABCB1gene expression profiles is the first study focusing solely on AML-NK patients. Preliminary results showed that patients with highBCL2expression are likely to experience resistance to chemotherapy, and may benefit from specific anti-BCL2 treatment. Further investigations conducted on a larger number of patients could elucidate actual prognostic significance of these genes in AML-NK patients.