High Expression of PKM2 Was Associated with the Poor Prognosis of Acute Leukemia

Abstract

Purpose

To explore the clinical significance of plasma pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) in assessing the incidence and prognosis of acute leukemia.

Methods

Plasma samples from 56 acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients, 40 acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients, and 66 plasma samples from healthy individuals were collected. The level of plasma PKM2 was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The clinical significance of PKM2 in acute leukemia was assessed by analyzing receiver operating characteristic and survival curves.

Results

The plasma levels of PKM2 in AML or ALL patients were significantly higher than those in healthy individuals, respectively. PKM2 can be used as a potential diagnostic index with the AUC of 0.827 for AML and 0.837 for ALL. The level of plasma PKM2 in ALL patients with a BCR/ABL-positive genotype was significantly higher than that in patients with a BCR/ABL-negative genotype (p<0.05). The event-free survival and the overall survival of acute leukemia patients with higher PKM2 expression was worse than those with lower PKM2 expression.

Conclusion

This study showed that higher levels of PKM2 was negatively correlated with the prognosis of acute leukemia. Therefore, PKM2 can be used as a potential index to assess the incidence and prognosis of acute leukemia.

Keywords:

• acute leukemia
• acute myeloid leukemia
• acute lymphoblastic leukemia
• pyruvate kinase M2

Acknowledgment

We would like to thank all the patients and controls that participated in this study.

Abbreviations

PKM2, pyruvate kinase M2 hypotype; AML, acute myeloid leukemia; ALL, acute lymphoblastic leukemia; ROC, receiver operating characteristic; EFS, event-free survival; OS, overall survival; GLU, glucose; LDH, lactate dehydrogenase; TBA, total bile acid; CG, cholyglycine; NEFA, nonesterified fatty acids; sdLDL, small dense low-density lipoprotein; apoE, apolipoprotein E; TC, total cholesterol; HDL-C, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; LDL-C, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; TG, triglycerides; apoA1, apolipoprotein A1; apoB100, apolipoprotein B100; Lp(a), lipoprotein a; WBC, white blood cell; RBC, red blood cell; MCV, mean corpuscular volume; HGB, hemoglobin; PLT, platelet; PDW, platelet distribution width; MPV, mean platelet volume.

Ethics Approval

This study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Ethics Board of the Sun Yat-sen University affiliated Zhongshan Hospital. This study results had no influence on the subsequent management of patients.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Author Contributions

All authors made a significant contribution to the work reported, whether in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis, and interpretation, or in all these areas; and took part in drafting, revising or critically reviewing the article; gave final approval of the version to be published; have agreed on the journal to which the article has been submitted; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.