The resistance to inhibitors of tyrosine kinase necessitates novel approaches to the therapy of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). The progression of CML to blast crisis is associated with down-regulation of C/EBP-alpha being involved in the differentiation block in leukemic blast cells. Moreover, lowered C/EBP-alpha expression correlates with resistance to imatinib in CML. We have demonstrated that vitamin E up-regulates expression of C/EBP-alpha and down-regulates expression of Snail transcription factor in K562 cells in vitro contributing to the putative recovery of myeloid differentiation potential. In parallel with increased CEBP alpha expression, Vitamin E treatment results in the decreasing expression of placental-like alkaline phosphatase and increasing expression of tissue non-specific alkaline phosphatase. We suggest that vitamin E could be used as the plausible biological modulator to prevent the progression to blast crisis and to overcome drug resistance of leukemic cells in CML.
Part of the book: Vitamin E in Health and Disease