Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - National Cancer Institute - Department of Clinical Pathology

Introduction: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most common malignant myeloid disease in adults. Growing evidence has proved that microRNAs(miRNAs) may be a novel class of non-invasive biomarkers that can provide prognostic information in AML. MiR-204 shows drastically reduced expression in several cancers and acts as a potent tumor suppressor, inhibiting tumor metastasis in vivo. Aim of the work: The purpose of the present study is to measure the level of expression of miR-204 in adult denovo AML and to assess the correlation between this level of expression with disease outcome and other prognostic factors. Material and methods: Detection of miR-204 was done using RT-PCR in newly diagnosed AML adult patients and age matched controls. miR-204 was also measured in 16 patients at day 28 after induction of chemotherapy. Results: The study included 87 newly diagnosed AML adult patients (43 males and 44 females, the mean age was 44.4 years), and 7 age matched control. AML patients showed significantly lower miR-204 expression, when compared to control group (p=0.029). Low expression of miR-204 was significantly associated with poor prognosis in AML patients since it associated with shorter OS (p=0.015) and DFS (p=0.008). There was also statistically significant correlation between achieving CR and increased mir-204 expression after treatment (p=0.049). Low miR-204 expression was significantly associated with positive CD34 in AML patients (p=0.017) and, with diabetes mellitus (p=0.014), and with poor performance status (p=0.009)

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