Aberrant Expression of miR-125a in Patients with Myeloproliferative Neoplasm and Its Clinicohematological Significance

Background: Deregulation of microRNA (miRNA) expression can lead to cancer initiation and progression. The aim of this study was to investigate miR-125a expression level in patients with myeloproliferative neoplasm and its correlation with JAK2 allele burden and laboratory findings. Material method: In total, forty patients with a clinical diagnosis of polycythemia vera (PV) and essential thrombocythemia (ET) were examined at the time of diagnosis. Ten healthy subjects were checked as controls. We performed JAK2 V617F allele burdens measurement by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Expression analysis of miR 125a-3p and miR-125a-5p was performed by Real-time RT-PCR. Results were analyzed by SPSS 16 software and Mann–Whitney test and Spearman’s correlation was applied to analyze. Result: miR-125a-5p was up regulated in both PV (p=0.003) and ET patients (p=0.002). In PV group, a significant correlation was observed between miR-125a-5p and platelet counts (p=0.01, r=0.531). The median allele burden of the JAK2 V617F was 66% (62.37 ± 18.29) for patients with PV and 40% (43.4 ± 13.95) for patients with ET (P = 0.007). The correlation between miRNA and JAk2 allele burden was not significant. Conclusion: In conclusion, our data indicate that other factors such as aberrant miR-125 expression may influence on the disease phenotype in patients with PV and ET.

MicroRNAs, Polycythemia Vera, Essential Thrombocythemia