title: Micro-RNA-16 expression in paraffin-embedded specimen correlates with overall survival of T-lymphoblastic lymphoma/leukemia.
abstract: The diagnosis and prognosis of T-lymphoblastic lymphoma/leukemia represent a clinical challenge due to their relative rarity as well as their heterogeneous morphology and immunophenotype. In contrast to the significant progress in uncovering genetic lesions and prognostic factors for B-cell lineage lymphoid malignancies, prognostic markers that can predict clinical outcome of T-lymphoblastic lymphoma/leukemia remain to be discovered and validated. Recently, specific micro-RNAs have emerged as potential biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of various types of tumor. Among them, miR-16 is known to play important roles in the development of hematological malignancies. Using quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, we analyzed miR-16 expression level in archived formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded diagnostic lymph node specimens from a total of 72 patients with T-lymphoblastic lymphoma/leukemia and for which clinical follow-up information was available. Although no statistically significant difference was evident in patients with T-lymphoblastic lymphoma/leukemia versus controls with reactive lymph nodes (P = .163), T-lymphoblastic lymphoma/leukemia patients with a greater than median expression level of miR-16 had a longer overall survival than patients with a less than median expression level. The overall 1-year survival rate was 50% for the high expression group but was 26.5% for the low expression group (P = .043). To our knowledge, we provide here the first evidence that the expression of a single micro-RNA, miR-16, is associated with clinical outcome of patients with T-lymphoblastic lymphoma/leukemia. Therefore, miR-16 may be considered as a potential prognostic marker for T-lymphoblastic lymphoma/leukemia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China.
authors.forename: Yanfeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xi
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Likun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zan
authors.forename: Jinfen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Guoping
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ning
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D016612:Paraffin Embedding; D054218:Precursor T-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality; D011379:Prognosis; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016019:Survival Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C505362:MIRN16 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs