High BCL11A Expression in Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patients Predicts a Worse Clinical Outcome.
BACKGROUND
Recent reports showed BCL11A may be causatively involved in myeloid leukemia. This study investigated the relationship between BCL11A expression levels and adult acute myeloid leukemia patient characteristics as well as clinical outcomes.


METHODS
RT-PCR was employed to detect BCL11A gene expression levels in 80 patients with acute myeloid leukemia.


RESULTS
Median BCL11A expression levels of 80 AML bone marrow samples were found to be higher than the control group (0.039 vs. 0.014, p < 0.005). Patients with low BCL11A expression levels had a significantly higher CR (complete remission) rate compared with patients with high BCL11A expression levels (90% vs. 53%, p < 0.005). Moreover, the median OS (overall survival) in patients with low BCL11A expression (268 d) was also longer than that in patients with high BCL11A expression (101.5 d) (p < 0.05). No significant difference was observed between the high and low BCL11A groups with respect to white blood cells, haemoglobin, platelet count, French-American-Britain (FAB) subtypes, percentage of blasts in bone marrow, peripheral blood, cytogenetic risk groups, and CD34 expression.


CONCLUSIONS
Adult acute myeloid leukemia had a higher BCL11A expression level. High BCL11A expression level was correlated with lower CR rate and shorter OS, suggesting that BCL11A expression could potentially be used as a prognosis indicator.
Huijuan
H
Dong
Pengcheng
P
Shi
Yong
Y
Zhou
Yong
Y
Yu
Xutao
X
Guo
Yao
Y
Yao
Pengtao
P
Liu
Bing
B
Xu
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics*; D001856:Bone Marrow Examination; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012074:Remission Induction; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D012307:Risk Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D015854:Up-Regulation; D055815:Young Adult
C486563:BCL11A protein, human; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D012097:Repressor Proteins