Methylation of miR-378 in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia / 中国实验血液学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the methylation status of miR-378 promoter in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and to analyze its clinical significance.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The unmethylation level of miR-378 gene promoter in bone marrow mononuclear cells of 25 healthy donors and 53 patients with CML was detected by using real-time quantitative methylation-specific PCR (RQ-MSP).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The hypomethylation of miR-378 gene promoter was found in 17/53 (32.1%) patients, but only in 1/25 (4.0%) of controls. The difference between the two groups was very statistically significant (P < 0.01). The frequency of miR-378 unmethylation in CML patients at chronic phase (CP), accelerated phase (AP) and blastic phase (BP) was 35.0% (14/40), 40.0% (2/5), and 12.5% (1/8), respectively. However, there were no significant differences in the unmethylation level of miR-378 among CML patients at different sexes, stages and karyotypes. No significant differences could be observed in age, white blood cell counts, platelet count, hemoglobin level and BCR/ABL1 transcript level (P > 0.05). CONCLUDSION: The miR-378 hypomethylation is a common molecular event in CML, especially at chronic or accelerated phases.</p>

Expression of RAGE-1 gene in acute myeloid leukemia / 中国实验血液学杂志

The purpose of this study was to detect the expression of RAGE-1 transcript in the bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMNC) from patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and to investigate the relationship of RAGE-1 expression level with clinical variables. The expression level of RAGE-1 gene in BMMNC from 94 newly diagnosed AML patients was measured using RQ-PCR. The relationship between RAGE-1 expression level and clinical parameters (age, sex, blood cell counts, diagnosis and prognosis) was investigated, and the levels of RAGE-1 expression were compared in patients before and after treatment. The results showed that overexpression of RAGE-1 transcript was found in 28% (26/94) AML patients (1.34 - 16.34, median 3.07). No significant difference was observed in sex, age, blood parameters and FAB subtypes between the groups with and without RAGE-1 overexpression. There was also no significant difference in the frequency of RAGE-1 overexpression among different cytogenetic risk groups and among the patients with different types of karyotypes. The level of RAGE-1 transcript significantly decreased in those patients obtained complete remission after treatment. The overall survival of AML patients with RAGE-1 overexpression was similar as that in those without RAGE-1 overexpression. It is concluded that RAGE-1 overexpression is a common event in AML, but has no impact on the prognosis of patients.

Reduced expression of PDLIM4 gene correlates with good prognosis in acute myeloid leukemia / 中国实验血液学杂志

This study was aimed to investigate the expression pattern of gene PDLIM4 (PDZ and LIM domain 4) and analyze its clinical correlation with the patients suffered from acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The expression pattern of PDLIM4 in AML was detected by using EvaGreen real-time quantitative PCR (RQ-PCR). The results showed that the PDLIM4 transcript significantly decreased in 94 AML patients, compared with 21 controls (P < 0.01). The decrease of PDLIM4 transcript was found in 42 (45%) AML patients. PDLIM4 low-expression occurred among the subtypes of M1/M2/M3 more frequently than that in M4/M5/M6 (56% vs 20%, P < 0.01). AML patients with PDLIM4 low-expression had an overall survival (OS) higher than that in AML patients without PDLIM4 low-expression (P < 0.05). Analysis with receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) displayed that PDLIM4 expression possesses the diagnostic value to differentiate AML from controls, with ROC curve area of 0.865 (95% CI: 0.801-0.930). It is concluded that reduced PDLIM4 expression is a common and favorable event for the good prognosis in AML, and can be used as a potential diagnostic biomarker of cancer.