Background: The aim was to determine the clinical role of long non coding maternally expressed gene 3 (lncRNA MEG3) in adult acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
Methods: The expression levels of lncRNA MEG3 in bone marrow of AML patients and healthy donors were determined by qPCR. The correlation between expression levels of lncRNA MEG3 and clinical features was also analyzed. MTT assay and flow-cytometric assay were employed to determine the role of lncRNA MEG3 on the cell viability and apoptosis of AML cell lines. Expression levels of caspase-9, Bcl-2, MDM2, and p53 in those cells were determined by western blot.
Results: The expression levels of lncRNA MEG3 was significantly down-regulated in AML patients. Expression levels of lncRNA MEG3 were positively correlated with overall survival of patients. Up-regulation of lncRNA MEG3 could not only inhibit the cell growth and promoted apoptosis, but also increased the expression of caspase-9 and p53 and decreased the expression of Bcl-2 and MDM2.
Conclusions: These results suggest that down-regulation of lncRNA MEG3 in AML patients might promote tumor progression and affect the p53-MDM2 pathway.