title: Prognostic value of miR-96 in patients with acute myeloid leukemia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Aberrant expression of miRNA (miR)-96 is associated with tumorigenesis and tumor progression in several solid cancers. However, little is known about the expression and prognostic value of miR-96 in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the correlation of miR-96 expression with clinicopathological features and prognosis of AML.
  
  
  METHODS
  Real-time quantitative RT-PCR assay was performed to evaluate the expression levels of miR-96 in mononuclear cells from bone marrow or peripheral blood specimens in 86 patients with newly diagnosed AML.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with normal controls, miR-96 expression was significantly downregulated in patients with newly diagnosed AML (P < 0.001). In analysis of 14 diagnosis/CR-paired samples, the expression level of miR-96 was found markedly elevated in patients after treatment than before (P < 0.001). Moreover, lower levels of miR-96 were associated with a higher white blood cell count, bone marrow blast count (P < 0.001 and 0.022, respectively), and lower hemoglobin and platelet count (P = 0.036 and 0.033, respectively). Although the low-expression group seemed to have a lower CR rate (53.85% vs 70.0%), there was no significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.213). The low-expression group had a lower relapse-free survival (RFS) (P = 0.038) and overall survival (OS) (P = 0.022) compared with the high-expression group during a median follow-up of 20 months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data demonstrated that the expression of miR-96 was downregulated in newly diagnosed AML patients and associated with leukemic burden, as well as RFS and OS. This suggests that miR-96 detection might become a potential biomarker of prognosis and monitoring in AML.
  The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/1434808553949498.
authors.forename: Jiangning
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, 510080 Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. quanyilu@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Quanyi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Junfeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Jianguo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Yun-xian
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D015536:Down-Regulation; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D005820:Genetic Testing / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000032:analysis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C541492:MIRN96 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs