Abstract:
Objective To investigate γ-catenin expression in the bone marrow of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and its impact on clinical outcomes and prognosis.
Methods Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to evaluate γ-catenin gene expression in the bone marrow of 142 patients with AML and 20 control individuals. Sanger gene sequencing was used to detect mutations in NPM1, FLT3-ITD/TKD, C-KIT8/17, DNMT3A, and CEBPα/β.
Results The relative expression level of γ-catenin in 142 patients with newly diagnosed AML was significantly higher than that in the control group 2.32 (0.12–23.64) vs. 0.59 (0.12–1.45), (Z=−4.404, P<0.005). In patients with AML, γ-catenin gene expression was positively correlated with cytogenetic risk (r=0.235, P=0.005) and was significantly higher in the high-risk cytogenetics (HRC) group than in the standard-risk cytogenetics (SRC) group and the medium-risk cytogenetics (MRC) group. The mutation detection rate in patients with newly diagnosed AML was 56.34%. γ-catenin gene expression was negatively correlated with NPM1 gene mutations (r=−0.169, P=0.045) and positively correlated with the single gene mutation of CEBPα/β (r=0.173, P=0.040). Moreover, it was negatively correlated with the complete response rate (r=−0.257, P=0.002). Compared with the high-expression group, the low-expression group had a significantly longer event-free survival (EFS; P=0.002) and overall survival (OS; P=0.003), and the OS of the HRC group was significantly shorter than that of the MRC group (P=0.012). Univariate and multivariate Cox analyses showed thatin patients with AML, high γ-catenin gene expression was an independent predictor of EFS, where as high γ-catenin gene expression and cytogenetic abnormalities were independent predictors of OS.
Conclusions Aberrant γ-catenin gene expression may be an important molecular eventin AML pathogenesis. Monitoring changes in γ-catenin gene expression levels may facilitate the diagnosis and optimization of treatment strategies for AML.