Disturbed Expression of Memory T-Cell Subsets Could Alter the Outcomes in Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Asmaa M. Zahran¹, Zeinab Albadry M. Zahran², Doaa A. Gamal³, Ibrahim Khalid Ibrahim Elsayh⁴, Sawsan M. Moeen⁵, Mohammed M. Wahman⁶, Marwa A. Sabet⁷, Azza Mostafa Abdelaal⁸, Safinaz Hussein⁵, Khaled Saad⁸, Amal Rayan³

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¹ Department of Clinical Pathology, South Egypt Cancer Institute, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt

² Department of Clinical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt

³ Department of Clinical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt

⁴ Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt

⁵ Department of Internal Medicine, Clinical Hematology Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt

⁶ Department of Clinical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, South Valley University, Qena, Egypt

⁷ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Sphinx University, New-Assiut, Egypt

⁸ Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt

EJMO 2023, 7(4), 362–370; https://doi.org/10.14744/ejmo.2023.35138

Submitted: 14 October 2023 | Accepted: 13 November 2023 | Published: 29 December 2023

© 2023 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )

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Abstract

Objectives: We compared the percentages of memory T cells in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) to healthy controls and tried to detect any association of these cells to treatment outcome.

Methods: The study involved 34 adult patients with AML and 24 healthy controls. Following the diagnosis of AML, blood samples were collected from patients and controls for flow cytometric detection of CD8+T, CD4+T, TN, TEM, TCM, TEMRA, and TSCM subsets of both CD4+ and CD8+T-cells.

Results: No significant differences in the mean percentages of CD4+T-cell types between AML patients and controls, with the exception of the total percentage of CD4+T-cells which accumulated in controls, furthermore, significant accumulations of CD8+TEMRA, CD8+CD45+RO, and CD8+TEM were detected in patients compared with controls, while CD8+, CD8+TNs, CD8+TSCM, and CD8+TCM accumulated in controls compared to patients, moreover, significant elevations of total CD8+T-cells, CD8+TEMRA, CD8+TSCM, CD8+TCM, and CD8+TEM in patients with remission compared to those without remission, on the contrary, CD4+T memory cells did not show any significant differences.

Conclusion: Our results showed that accumulation of CD8+T memory cells in AML patients, especially those who achieved remission, could enhance the immune response, particularly in those at high risk of relapse after bone marrow transplantation.

Keywords

Acute myeloid leukemia

CD4+T memory cells

CD8+T memory cells

flow cytometry

remission

Conflict of interest

None declared.

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