title: High expression of AURKA and AURKB is associated with unfavorable cytogenetic abnormalities and high white blood cell count in patients with acute myeloid leukemia.
abstract: In the present study, we analyzed AURKA and AURKB gene expression in 70 acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. There was no difference between leukemic samples and bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMCs, n = 8) or CD34(+) progenitors (n = 10) from healthy donors. High white blood cells (WBC) counts were observed in the AURKA(+) and AURKB(+) groups, but no significant differences regarding age, gender, platelet counts or frequency of FLT3-ITD mutations. AURKA, but not AURKB, expression was independently associated with high WBC counts (OR: 3.15, 95%CI 1.07-9.24, p = 0.03). Moreover, the majority of cases that overexpressed AURKA and AURKB presented unfavorable cytogenetic abnormalities (p < 0.001). In conclusion, we described a significant association between overexpression of AURKA/B and cytogenetics findings in AML, which may be relevant to new therapeutic approaches, based on Aurora kinase inhibitors.
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, Hematology Division, National Institute of Science and Technology on Cell-Based Therapy, Medical School of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Av Bandeirantes 3900, 14048-900 Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.
authors: Antonio R
authors: AR
authors: Lucena-Araujo
authors: Fabio Morato
authors: FM
authors: de Oliveira
authors: Sabrina Dias
authors: SD
authors: Leite-Cueva
authors: Guilherme Augusto
authors: GA
authors: dos Santos
authors: Roberto Passeto
authors: RP
authors: Falcao
authors: Eduardo Magalhães
authors: EM
authors: Rego
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D064096:Aurora Kinase A; D064107:Aurora Kinase B; D064127:Aurora Kinases; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009154:Mutation; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D055815:Young Adult; D051941:fms-Like Tyrosine Kinase 3
chemical_list: C497970:FLT3 protein, human; D051941:fms-Like Tyrosine Kinase 3; C576917:AURKA protein, human; C576921:AURKB protein, human; D064096:Aurora Kinase A; D064107:Aurora Kinase B; D064127:Aurora Kinases; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases