BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs play important roles in regulation of the initiation and progression of AML. MiR-210 is closely related with cancer development; however, whether miR-210 expression level correlates with clinical correlation in AML is unknown. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the potential relationship between miR-210 expression and AML prognosis.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Real-time quantitative PCR was carried out to examine the expression level of miR-210 in bone marrow and serum obtained from AML patients and healthy controls. Then the correlation between miR-210 expression and a variety of important clinical parameters (such as overall survival, relapse-free survival, and prognostic value) were further studied.

RESULTS: The expression level of miR-210 was significantly higher in the bone marrow and serum of AML patients than that of healthy controls (p<0.001). Moreover, miR-210 expression was associated with various AML clinicopathological parameters, including FAB classification and cytogenetics. The serum miR-210 expression level was reduced significantly when the patients achieved complete remission (p=0.02). The high miR-210 expression group had both poorer relapse-free survival (p=0.015) and worse overall survival (p=0.008). In the multivariate analysis model, miR-210 was identified as an independent prognostic marker.

CONCLUSIONS: MiR-210 up-regulation was associated with poor prognosis in AML and it might be useful as a marker for predicting the clinical outcome of AML patients.

Keywords: Adolescent, Bone Marrow - metabolism, Case-Control Studies, Child, Child, Preschool, Disease Progression, Disease-Free Survival, Gene Expression Regulation, Leukemic, Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute - genetics, MicroRNAs - genetics, Multivariate Analysis, Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction, Recurrence, Remission Induction, young adult