[Correlation between myeloperoxidase expression and gene alterations and prognosis in acute myeloid leukemia]

Lysosome-related genes predict acute myeloid leukemia prognosis and response to immunotherapy

Background

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a highly aggressive and pathogenic hematologic malignancy with consistently high mortality. Lysosomes are organelles involved in cell growth and metabolism that fuse to form specialized Auer rods in AML, and their role in AML has not been elucidated. This study aimed to identify AML subtypes centered on lysosome-related genes and to construct a prognostic model to guide individualized treatment of AML.

Methods

Gene expression data and clinical data from AML patients were downloaded from two high-throughput sequencing platforms. The 191 lysosomal signature genes were obtained from the database MsigDB. Lysosomal clusters were identified by unsupervised consensus clustering. The differences in molecular expression, biological processes, and the immune microenvironment among lysosomal clusters were subsequently analyzed. Based on the molecular expression differences between lysosomal clusters, lysosomal-related genes affecting AML prognosis were screened by univariate cox regression and multivariate cox regression analyses. Algorithms for LASSO regression analyses were employed to construct prognostic models. The risk factor distribution, KM survival curve, was applied to evaluate the survival distribution of the model. Time-dependent ROC curves, nomograms and calibration curves were used to evaluate the predictive performance of the prognostic models. TIDE scores and drug sensitivity analyses were used to explore the implication of the model for AML treatment.

Results

Our study identified two lysosomal clusters, cluster1 has longer survival time and stronger immune infiltration compared to cluster2. The differences in biological processes between the two lysosomal clusters are mainly manifested in the lysosomes, vesicles, immune cell function, and apoptosis. The prognostic model consisting of six prognosis-related genes was constructed. The prognostic model showed good predictive performance in all three data sets. Patients in the low-risk group survived significantly longer than those in the high-risk group and had higher immune infiltration and stronger response to immunotherapy. Patients in the high-risk group showed greater sensitivity to cytarabine, imatinib, and bortezomib, but lower sensitivity to ATRA compared to low -risk patients.

Conclusion

Our prognostic model based on lysosome-related genes can effectively predict the prognosis of AML patients and provide reference evidence for individualized immunotherapy and pharmacological chemotherapy for AML.

[Analysis of immunophenotypes and expressions of non-myeloid antigens in acute myeloid leukemia]

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the characteristics of immunophenotypes and expressions of non-myeloid differentiation antigens in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and their value in diagnosis and prognostic evaluation of AML.

METHODS

We examined the immunophenotypes of 109 patients with AML using BD FACSCalibur flow cytometry and analyzed the association of the immunophenotypes and expressions of non-myeloid differentiation antigens with the prognosis and complete remission (CR) rate of the patients.

RESULTS

Immunophenotype analysis showed that the positivity rates of the myeloid differentiation antigens of AML cells decreased in the order of CD13, CD117, CD33, MPO and CD15; the positivity rates of CD117, CD13, CD33 and MPO did not differ significantly (P > 0.05) and were all significantly higher than that of CD15 (P < 0.05). The positivity rates of AML cell non-lineage antigens CD34, CD38, HLA-DR, and CD123 did not differ significantly (P > 0.05). The positivity rates of non-myeloid differentiation antigens decreased in the order of CD9, CD200, CD56 and CD7 in AML cells and were all significantly higher than those of CD25, CD19, CD2, CD10, CD4, CyCD79a and CyCD3 (P < 0.05). Among the 109 AML patients, the CR rates of patients positive for CD7, CD34, CD56 and CD25 were significantly lower than those negative for these antigens (P < 0.05); the CR rates were significantly higher in patients positive for MPO and CD19 than in the negative patients (P < 0.05). Among the 15 AML-M2b patients with AML1-ETO positivity, the CR rate following a single treatment course was significantly lower in patients positive for CD56 than in CD56-negative patients, and CD56-positive patients also had a significantly higher relapse rate within 1 year (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Immunophenotyping and analysis of non-myeloid differentiation antigens can be of great clinical significance for the diagnosis and prognostic evaluation of AML, and serve also as one of the important bases for the diagnosis and treatment of AML.

[Analysis of clinical features, gene mutation, and prognostic characteristics in de novo acute myeloid leukemia patients with myelofibrosis]

Objective: This study aims to investigate the characteristics of gene mutation and clinical prognosis in de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients with myelofibrosis (MF) . Methods: From January 1, 2016, to February 1, 2020, 103 newly diagnosed AML patients in Henan Provincial People's Hospital who simultaneously underwent bone marrow biopsy examination were included. They were divided into the AML-MF group (MF grades 1-3) and the AML without MF group (MF grade 0) , and the clinical features, gene alterations, chemotherapy efficacy, and prognosis were compared between the two groups retrospectively. Results: ①MF was confirmed in 44.7% of AML patients (46/103) , of which 84.8% (39/46) were MF-1 and 15.2% (7/46) were MF-2/3, while MF was not confirmed in 55.3% (57/103) of AML patients. The median of WBC in the AML-MF group was significantly higher than in the AML without MF group [11.205 (0.69-191.82) ×10(9)/L vs 4.64 (0.18-95.10) ×10(9)/L, P=0.024]. More patients in the AML-MF group had nucleated erythrocytes in the peripheral blood (43.5% vs 24.6% , χ(2)=4.119, P=0.042) . All four AML-M(0) patients were in the AML-MF group, while AML without MF group had a higher proportion of AML-M(2) (P=0.014) . ②FLT3-ITD and NPM1 mutations were more frequent in the AML-MF group (P=0.021 and 0.039) , while CEBPA mutation was more frequent in the AML without MF group (P=0.029) . ③The CR rate in the AML-MF group was significantly lower than in the AML without MF group (69.7% vs 93.2% ) (χ(2) =7.412, P=0.006) . Multivariate analysis showed that MF, especially the grade of fibrosis, was an independent risk factor for CR in de novo AML. ④The 3-year OS of patients in the AML-MF group was significantly lower than in the AML without MF group (20.5% vs 72.2% , χ(2)=4.032, P=0.045) . Subgroup analysis showed that OS and PFS of AML-MF1 and AML-MF 2/3 groups were also significantly worse than those of the AML without MF group (P=0.001) and MF, especially MF ≥2, was an independent marker for inferior OS and PFS in de novo AML (P=0.021 and 0.044) . Conclusion: AML-MF has unique laboratory and clinical characteristics. MF is an independent risk factor for CR, OS, and PFS in AML. Evaluation of MF is very significant for therapy efficacy and prognosis judgment in de novo AML.