Low miR-192 expression predicts poor prognosis in pediatric acute myeloid leukemia

BACKGROUND: Abnormal expression of miR-192 has been observed in a variety of human cancers, but the expression pattern of miR-192 and its prognostic value in pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is poorly known. OBJECTIVE: This study was to explore the expression status of miR-192 and its clinical significance in pediatric patients with AML. METHODS: Quantitative RT-PCR was carried out to detect miR-192 expression level in the serum from 97 AML cases and 50 healthy controls. RESULTS: The results showed that downregulation of serum miR-192 was observed in pediatric AML patients and strongly correlated with aggressive clinical features. Increased serum miR-192 expression occurred more frequently in the AML subjects with favorable risk cytogenetics. Moreover, serum miR-192 expression showed good performance to screen pediatric AML subjects from normal controls. Furthermore, serum miR-192 was identified as a independent prognostic indicator for both overall survival and event free survival. In addition, low serum miR-192 expression significantly contributed to poor prognosis in the whole cohort of AML patients or the AML patients with intermediate-risk cytogenetics. CONCLUSIONS: Collectively, serum miR-192 potentially can be a reliable biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis in pediatric AML.