High CD49d protein and mRNA expression predicts poor outcome in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

CD49d plays a critical role in leucocyte trafficking, activation and survival, and facilitates interactions between leucocytes and stromal cells. Recent data give evidence for the prognostic relevance of CD49d protein expression in B-CLL. In our study we analyzed both the expression of CD49d protein and mRNA in a cohort of 101 CLL patients. The percentage of leukemic B-cells expressing CD49d determined by flow cytometry ranged from 0 to 100%. 37 patients with high CD49d protein expression ≥ 45% (according to ROC analysis) had a significantly shorter treatment-free survival (TFS) and overall survival (OS) than 64 patients with low CD49d expression (median TFS: 116 versus 43 months, p = 0.015; median OS: not reached in both groups, p = 0.018). CD49d protein expression was strongly associated with CD38 status (p = 0.0001) and ZAP-70 status (p = 0.03) but not with IGVH mutation. In multivariate analysis high CD49d expression was a significantly independent prognostic factor (HR 3.0; p = 0.005). According to the strong correlation of CD49d protein expression with CD49d mRNA expression (r = 0.39; p < 0.0001) we could confirm the results on mRNA level with worse prognosis for patients with high mRNA level. Collectively, our data confirm the prognostic significance supporting the idea to use CD49d as target molecules for therapeutic approaches in B-CLL.