Detection of ERG and MN1 Gene Expression in Adult Patients with De Novo Acute myeloid Leukemia(AML) by Real-Time Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction and Its Clinical Significance.

Current study found that certain genetic abnormalities are related to the prognosis of AML, such as ERG and MN1 gene expression. However, little is known about the clinical significance of ERG and MN1 expression level in Chinese patients with AML and and their correlation.

A real time quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction method was established for detecting ERG and MN1 gene expression levels in 87 de novo AML patients.

The median expression levels of ERG and MN1 in AML patient were statistically higher than that in normal control group (P<0.001). ERG gene expression had no correlation with MN1 gene expression (P=0.194) in AML patients. ERG and MN1 gene expressions were equally distributed among the FAB subtypes (P=0.850 and 0.870). Spearman's rank correlation showed that leukocyte counts and lactate dehydrogenase were significantly related to high ERG expression (P=0.005 and 0.032), but not significant correlation was found between hemoglobin and platelet counts. The ERG expression level of cases with middle and low risk group was lower than that of cases with high risk group (P<0.036). There was no significant difference of CR rates in high and low ERG and MN1 expression groups after chemical theropy (P=0.968 and 0.695). During the follow-up of one year, the cumulative relapse rates of high ERG expression groups was significantly higher than that of low ERG expression groups(P=0.039), and high ERG expression cases have a significantly worse OS than low ERG expression cases(P=0.005).

There isn't a linear correlation between ERG gene expression and MN1 gene expression in AML. Overexpression of ERG gene is a independent prognositic factor for AML. Quantification of the two gene expression together is not more effective to the judgement of prognosis in AML.

No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.