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Transcriptional repression of the p15 gene predicts the clinical outcome of acute myeloblastic leukemia with intermediate and adverse cytogenetics

Leukemia volume 18, pages 1146–1148 (2004)Cite this article

TO THE EDITOR

In acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML), cytogenetic abnormalities are one of the most important factors predicting the clinical outcome. However, more than 40% of patients with de novo AML have a normal karyotype, and therefore lack informative cytogenetic markers. The intermediate or adverse cytogenetic risk group includes a heterogeneous cohort of patients, and little is known about the underlying molecular mechanisms contributing to the clinical heterogeneity. To date, several molecular abnormalities have been examined for their clinical significance in AML. For example, internal tandem duplications (ITDs) in the receptor tyrosine kinase FLT3 gene, which are observed in approximately 20% of AML, are associated with an unfavorable clinical outcome. On the other hand, mutations in the transcription factor C/EBPα were seen in about 10% of AML patients and are associated with a favorable clinical outcome. Intriguingly, mutations of these genes were frequently seen in patients with a normal karyotype. Since a considerable number of patients with AML do not have these genetic abnormalities, it is of importance to clarify the clinical significance of further molecular alterations.

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Acknowledgements

We greatly appreciate Drs H Suzushima and F Kawano for their kind help. We are also very grateful to Ms M Ichinomiya for technical assistances. This work was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, and Grants-in-Aid for Cancer Research from the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare.

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  1. Department of Internal Medicine II, Kumamoto University School of Medicine, Kumamoto, Japan

    N Matsuno, K Hoshino, T Nanri, T Kawakita, H Mitsuya & N Asou

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Correspondence to N Asou.

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Matsuno, N., Hoshino, K., Nanri, T. et al. Transcriptional repression of the p15 gene predicts the clinical outcome of acute myeloblastic leukemia with intermediate and adverse cytogenetics. Leukemia 18, 1146–1148 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2403362

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