Association between diminished miRNA expression and the disease status of AML patients: Comparing to healthy control

Ding-Ping Chen; Su-Wei Chang; Ying-Hao Wen; Wei-Ting Wang

doi:10.1016/j.bj.2022.03.003

Association between diminished miRNA expression and the disease status of AML patients: Comparing to healthy control

Biomed J. 2023 Apr;46(2):100518. doi: 10.1016/j.bj.2022.03.003. Epub 2022 Mar 17.

Authors

Ding-Ping Chen¹, Su-Wei Chang², Ying-Hao Wen³, Wei-Ting Wang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Laboratory Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Medical Biotechnology and Laboratory Science, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan. Electronic address: a12048@adm.cgmh.org.tw.
² Department of Laboratory Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Clinical Informatics and Medical Statistics Research Center, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
³ Department of Laboratory Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Laboratory Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou, Taoyuan, Taiwan.

Abstract

Background: Changes in ABO blood type caused by a gradual decrease in antigen expression have been found in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Studies have indicated that alteration of ABO gene methylation accounts for 50% of acquired weak ABO antigen expression in patients with leukemia. However, the molecular mechanisms contributing to the remaining 50% of cases are unknown. We hypothesize that deregulation of miRNA is correlated with weak ABO antigen expression in patients with AML.

Methods: Blood samples of 19 patients with AML and 12 healthy controls were collected, in which the blood type was not changed in these AML patients. Flow cytometric analysis was applied to measure the ABO antigen expression titer among AML patients and controls. A total of 18 leukemia-related miRNAs were analyzed via quantitative real-time polymerase chain reactions.

Results: We found that miRNA profiles were correlated with the AML patients, especially in those who had constant or weakened ABO antigen expressions. Compared with healthy controls, the miR-16 and miR-451 expression were significantly lower in either AML cases with weak ABO antigen expressions (p = 0.003, p = 0.028, respectively) or AML cases with constant ABO antigen expressions (p = 0.043, p = 0.040, respectively). Although not statistically significant, decreasing trends in the miR-451 and miR-16 expressions in the AML patients with weakened ABO were observed compared to those with constant ABO antigens. The weak ABO antigen expression might correlate with miRNAs, especially miR-16 and miR-451.

Conclusion: This study indicated that decreasing in miR-16 and miR-451 was associated with AML and AML with weakened ABO expression. In the future, we will continue to include more cases and exclude the others factor influencing ABO antigen expression, promoter methylation and oxidative stress, to replicate the results of this study and investigate the underlying mechanism of decreasing miR-16 and miR-451 in AML patients with varied ABO antigen expression levels.

Keywords: ABO blood Type; Hematopoiesis; Leukemia; microRNAs.

MeSH terms

DNA Methylation
Humans
Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute* / genetics
MicroRNAs* / genetics
Promoter Regions, Genetic

Substances

MicroRNAs