Unexpectedly, consistent with the ex vivo activity in primary samples from AML patients, DS/Cu also exhibited a potent antitumor activity against CD34+ cells isolated from these three patients with sAML (49.4±14.5% and 67.8±21.5% versus 10.6±8.3% for 0.5 μM DS alone and 0.5 μM DS/1 μM Cu versus untreated control, P=0.002 and P<0.001, respectively). This evidence concerns the gene CD34 and acute myeloid leukemia.