The constitutive activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (STAT5) occurs during the transformation of fusion genes in leukemia. We aimed to investigate whether or not the genetic polymorphisms in the STAT5 gene are associated with the treatment outcomes of Ara-C-based chemotherapy regimens in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). A total of 152 patients with AML were included in our study. Peripheral blood samples were analyzed through matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Results showed that the frequency of rs2293157 T/T was higher in the complete remission and partial remission groups after Ara-C-based chemotherapy even though the genotype had a high frequency in the intermediate risk groups (p < 0.05). We concluded that rs2293157 is an important marker for the therapeutic efficiency of Ara-C-based chemotherapy in patients with AML, especially in the Chinese population.
Keywords: Acute myeloid leukemia; STAT5; chemotherapy; polymorphism.