Plasmacytoma Variant Translocation-1 as Prognostic Markers in Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Abstract

Introduction and Aim: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the commonest form of childhood leukemia. Molecular studies can provide diagnostic and prognostic information with direct impact on the patient. Recent micro RNAs (miRNAs) studies showed that aberrant expression can be used as signatures of ALL with different subtypes and predict drug resistance. The present work aimed to evaluate the expression of Plasmacytoma Variant Translocation-1 (PVT1) in Childhood ALL patients.

Methodology: The study included 55 children from 2 months to 15 years old; 45 patients with ALL before receiving any treatment, and 10 control children. Long non-coding RNA PVT1 expression in plasma cells was detected by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction.

Results: Lnc_PVT1 expression is upregulated by twelve-folds in ALL patients. At optimum cut-off value of 22.0, the biomarker has a sensitivity of 72% and 82% specificity to discriminate ALL patients from controls. Correlating the mean values of miR_1204gene fold expression with different subgroups concerning prognostic criteria, there was no statistical differences between age groups, gender, ALL phenotypes, cytogenetic abnormality, total leukocytes count, hemoglobin concentrations and platelet count. In contrast, statistical significance was detected with bone marrow blasts percentage, clinical response, and minimal residual disease.

Conclusion: A higher expression of lnc-PVT1 was observed in ALL patients, and it had a diagnostic and prognostic potential. In addition, miR-1204 was down-regulated in pediatric ALL and associated with higher risk.