title: Prognostic significance of MSI2 predicts unfavorable outcome in adult B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Musashi-2 gene (MSI2) is implicated in leukemogenesis, and high MSI2 expression has been associated with decreased survival in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL), suggesting its use as a new prognostic marker. We aimed to validate the prognostic significance of MSI2 in ALL.
  
  
  METHODS
  MSI2 expression was measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction in 140 adult B-ALL patients and compared to controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  MSI2 expression level in patients was significantly higher when compared to the control group (P = 0.001). High MSI2 expression did not correlate with the clinical characteristics of patients. However, patients with high MSI2 expression had significantly lower incidence of complete remission (CR) (P = 0.03), inferior overall survival (P = 0.018), and shorter disease-free survival (P = 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that high MSI2 expression was an independent prognostic factor for adult BCR-ABL1-negative B-ALL patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results confirm the association of MSI2 expression with outcome in adult B-ALL and demonstrate the utility of MSI2 as a clinical prognostic biomarker.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Pathology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt.
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Aly
authors.forename: H F
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Ghazy
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D063868:Patient Outcome Assessment; D015452:Precursor B-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality*; D011379:Prognosis; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C438151:MSI2 protein, human; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl
keywords: BCR-ABL1 negative; MSI2; Prognosis; acute lymphoblastic leukemia; adult