Upregulation of O-GlcNAc transferase is involved in the pathogenesis of acute myeloid leukemia

Abstract

Background: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most common acute leukemia in adults. Patients have a low survival rate and a high recurrence rate, and AML is a highly heterogeneous disease without an effective and specific targeted therapy.

Aims: Therefore, it is urgent to explore new AML markers to enable early diagnosis and find drug targets for individualized treatment.

Results: Herein, we demonstrate that O-linked-N-acetylglucosamine transferase (OGT) is significantly upregulated in AML tissues compared with normal tissues. The high level of OGT expression is significantly related to poor overall survival (OS) in AML. Inhibition of OGT can inhibit AML cell proliferation and promote AML cell apoptosis.

Conclusion: These results suggest that OGT plays an important role in the pathogenesis of AML, and may become a potential biomarker and molecular drug target for precision therapy for AML.

Keywords: O-GlcNAc transferase; acute myeloid leukemia; apoptosis; cell proliferation.