Hematopoiesis-related microRNA expression in myelodysplastic syndromes

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are negative regulators of expression of genes involved in hematopoiesis. The present study sought to link hematopoiesis-relevant miRNAs with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and MDS progression to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We assessed 25 mature miRNAs in total RNA from bone marrow (BM) and peripheral blood (PB) of 25 newly diagnosed patients with MDS and 12 controls. Twelve miRNAs in BM and six in PB were differentially expressed between patients with MDS and controls. Three of these miRNAs, belonging to the cluster 17–92, were overexpressed in both BM and PB. miR-15a in BM ( p = 0.034) and miR-16 in PB ( p = 0.005) were differentially expressed between low-risk and high-risk groups. miR-222 ( p = 0.0023) and miR-181a ( p = 0.014) expression was higher in AML than in MDS in both BM and PB. This study adds further evidence to the role of miRNAs in the pathogenesis of MDS and their transformation into AML.

Keywords:

• MicroRNA
• hematopoiesis
• MDS
• post-MDS AML
• miR-222
• miR-181a

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Silvia Pairet for her excellent technical assistance, and Renee O'Brate for her assistance in writing the manuscript.

Declaration of interest: This work was supported in part by FISS (PI060087) from the Spanish Ministry of Public Health and by the SDCSD of the School of Medicine of the University of Barcelona.