Long non-coding RNA expression profile in cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukemia identifies a distinct signature and a new biomarker in NPM1-mutated patients

oleh: Etienne De Clara, Morgane Gourvest, Hanjing Ma, François Vergez, Marie Tosolini, Sébastien Dejean, Cécile Demur, Eric Delabesse, Christian Recher, Christian Touriol, Maria Paola Martelli, Brunangelo Falini, Pierre Brousset, Marina Bousquet

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: Ferrata Storti Foundation 2017-10-01

Deskripsi

Long non-coding RNAs are defined as transcripts larger than 200 nucleotides but without protein-coding potential. There is growing evidence of the important role of long non-coding RNAs in cancer initiation, development and progression. In this study, we sought to evaluate the long non-coding RNA expression profile of patients with cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukemia (AML). RNA-sequencing of 40 cytogenetically normal AML patients allowed us to quantify 11,036 long non-coding RNAs. Among these, more than 8000 were previously undescribed long non-coding RNAs. Using unsupervised analysis, we observed a specific long non-coding RNA expression profile dependent on the mutational status of the NPM1 gene. Statistical analysis allowed us to identify a minimal set of 12 long non-coding RNAs capable of discriminating NPM1-mutated from NPM1-wild-type patients. These results were validated by qRT-PCR on an independent cohort composed of 134 cytogenetically normal AML patients. Furthermore, we have identified one putative biomarker, the long non-coding RNA XLOC_109948 whose expression pattern predicts clinical outcome. Interestingly, low XLOC_109948 expression indicates a good prognosis especially for NPM1-mutated patients. Transient transfection of GapmeR against XLOC_109948 in NPM1-mutated OCI-AML3 cell line treated with Ara-C or ATRA enhances apoptosis suggesting XLOC_109948 plays a role in drug sensitivity. This study improves our knowledge of the long non-coding RNA transcriptome in cytogenetically normal AML patients. We observed a distinct long non-coding RNA expression profile in patients with the NPM1 mutation. The newly identified XLOC_109948 long non-coding RNA emerged as a strong prognostic factor able to better stratify NPM1-mutated patients.