Expression profiles of long non-coding RNA gas5 and microrna-222 in younger AML patients

Introduction: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous malignant disease, that accounts for 80% of all acute leukemias in adults. Imprecise risk stratification and lack of personalized treatment creates a constant need to find new prognostic markers and targets for innovative therapeutics. Recently, thissearch has pointed towards non-coding RNAs(ncRNA). Numerousstudies have shown dysregulation of lncRNA GAS5 in cancers, but it was poorly investigated in AML. Since GAS5 actslike a molecularsponge for miR-222, co-expression profiles of these non-coding RNAs could be novel prognostic markersin AML. Methods: GAS5 expression levels were analysed in 94 AML patients and 14 healthy controls using RealTime PCR and miR-222 expression levels were analysed in a subgroup of 39 patients with normal karyotype (AML-NK). ROC curve analyses were used to find a cut-off value between GAS5high and GAS5low, while the median value was used for distinguishing between miR-222high and miR-222low. Results: We showed that GAS5 expression in AML patients was lower compared to healthy controls. Lower GAS5 expression on diagnosis was related to an adverse prognosis. The disease-free survival and the overallsurvival were lower in the GAS5low group butsurvival analysisfailed to confirm thisfinding. In the AML-NK group patients had higher expression of miR-222 compared to healthy controls. A synergistic effect of GAS5low/miR-222high status on disease prognosis was not established. Conclusion:Our findingsindicate the potential prognostic significance of GAS5 expression and the need for further investigation of these two non-coding RNAs and their potential roles in leukemogenesis.