Multidrug Resistance-Associated Protein 1 Predicts Relapse in Iranian Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a main cause of failure in the chemotherapeutic treatment of malignantdisorders. One of the well-known genes responsible for drug resistance encodes the multidrug resistanceassociatedprotein (MRP1). The association of MRP1 with clinical drug resistance has not systematically beeninvestigated in Iranian pediatric leukemia patients. We therefore applied real-time RT-PCR technology to studythe association between the MRP1 gene and MDR phenotype in Iranian pediatric leukemia patients. We foundthat overexpression of MRP1 occurred in most Iranian pediatric leukemia patients at relapse. However, norelation between MRP1 mRNA levels and other clinical characteristics, including cytogenetic subgroups andFAB subtypes, was found.