Gene Mutation and Overexpression of Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma Patients / 中国实验血液学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To analyze the characteristics of gene mutation and overexpression in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM) patients.@*METHODS@#Bone marrow cells from 208 NDMM patients were collected and analyzed. The gene mutation of 28 genes and overexpression of 6 genes was detected by DNA sequencing. Chromosome structure abnormalities were detected by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH).@*RESULTS@#Gene mutations were detected in 61 (29.33%) NDMM patients. Some mutations occurred in 5 or more cases, such as NRAS, PRDM1, FAM46C, MYC, CCND1, LTB, DIS3, KRAS, and CRBN. Overexpression of six genes (CCND1, CCND3, BCL-2, CCND2, FGFR3, and MYC) were detected in 83 (39.9%) patients, and cell cycle regulation gene was the most common. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) changes were detected in 169 (81.25%) patients, the TP53 P72R gene SNP (70.17%) was the most common. Abnormality in chromosome structure was correlated to gene overexpression. Compared to the patients with normal chromosome structure, patients with 14q32 deletion showed higher proportion of CCND1 overexpression. Similarly, patients with 13q14 deletion showed higher proportion of FGFR3 overexpression, whereas patients with 1q21 amplification showed higher proportion of CCND2, BCL-2 and FGFR3 overexpression.@*CONCLUSION@#There are multiple gene mutations and overexpression in NDMM. However, there is no dominated single mutation or overexpression of genes. The most common gene mutations are those in the RAS/MAPK pathway and the genes of cyclin family CCND are overexpression.

Adiponectin Receptor Agonist AdipoRon Inhibits the Proliferation of Myeloma Cells via the AMPK/Autophagy Pathway / 中国实验血液学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the inhibitory effect of adiponectin receptor agonist AdipoRon on proliferation of myeloma cell lines and its possible mechanism.@*METHODS@#The myeloma cell lines Sp2/0-Ag14 and MPC-11 were treated with different concentration of AdipoRon. The cell proliferation was detected by CCK-8. Western blot was used to determine the protein level of the signaling pathway. RT-PCR was used to quantify the mRNA copy number of adiponectin receptor AdipoR1 and AdipoR2 in the bone marrow cells from 21 patients with multiple myeloma (MM). Twenty-three normal bone marrow samples were served as control.@*RESULTS@#AdipoRon significantly inhibited the proliferation of MM cell lines Sp2/0-Ag14 and MPC-11 in a concentration-dependent and time-dependent manner. Western blot showed that AdipoRon induced an increase of the expression levels of apoptosis-related proteins cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved PARP. AdipoRon upregulated p-AMPK and its downstream p-ACC in MPC-11. In addition, AdipoRon upregulated LC3-II/LC3-I level and down-regulated the protein level of p62. The expression level of AdipoR1 in MM cells was significantly higher than that in normal controls, and the expression level of AdipoR2 in MM cells was significantly lower than that in normal controls.@*CONCLUSION@#Adiponectin receptors are expressed differentially between MM patients and normal subjects. AdipoRon, an adiponectin receptor agonist, can inhibit myeloma cell proliferation and induce apoptosis, and AMPK/autophagy pathway may be one of its mechanisms.

NPM1 High Mutant Allele Burden is an Adverse Prognostic Factor for AML Patients with Mutated NPM1 / 中国实验血液学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the clinical features, accompanying gene mutation characteristics and prognostic factors of adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia with mutated NPM1 (NPM1AML).@*METHODS@#Seventy-three patients with newly diagnosed adult NPM1AML were selected. The mutations of 22 genes were detected by second generation sequencing and 43 fusion genes of AML were detected by real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR. The Kaplan-Meier survival curve and Cox multivariate regression analysis were used to study the prognostic factors.@*RESULTS@#A total of 74 NPM1 site mutations were detected in 73 patients with NPM1AML. The incidence rates were 92.0% L287fs, 2.7% Q289fs and W288fs, 1.4% L258fs and Q289H, among which 1 patient had 2 NPM1 mutations; the different mutation sites had no effect on the prognosis of NPM1AML. The median value of NPM1 variant allele frequency (VAF) was 35.4% (1.8%-56.6%). Based on the uppermost quartile of 38.4%, the patients were classified as NPM1 VAF>38.4% (NPM1AML) and NPM1 VAF≤38.4% (NPM1AML). Compared with NPM1AML, the early mortality rate was statistically significantly higher (33.3% vs 7.3%, P38.4% was an independent prognostic factor for EFS (HR=3.1, 95% CI 1.6-6.4, P<0.01) and OS (HR=3.0, 95% CI 1.4-6.2, P<0.01).@*CONCLUSION@#The NPM1 gene mutation in AML patients often is accompanied by other gene mutations, while the coexistence of fusion genes is rare; high NPM1 mutant allele burden is an independent prognostic factor for adult AML patients with mutated NPM1.

Metformin Induces Apoptosis of Human Multiple Myeloma Cell U266 through the Mitochondrial Apoptotic Pathway / 中国实验血液学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>Metformin (Met) can inhibit the proliferation of tumor cells in vitro, its effects on multiple myeloma and action mechanisms have been not yet understood. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect and molecular mechanism of metformin on human myeloma cells U266.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>U266 cells were treated with different concentration of Met, the MTT was used to detect cell proliferation, the PI staining was used to detect the cell cycle, and the protein expression of BCL-2 family and the release of cytochrome C were assessed by Western blot.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Metformin could inhibit the proliferation of U266 cell in a time- and concentration- dependent manner. The U266 cells were arrested in G/G phase after metformin treatment for 48 h, as compared with non-treated U266 cells. The proteins expression of BCL-2 and BCL-XL was down-regulated and the protein expression of BAX was up-regulated. The released of cytochrome C from mitochondria to cytoplasm was increased, and protein splicing of PARP was also enhanced.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Metformin can inhibit the cell proliferation and induce U266 cell apoptosis through the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway.</p>