MicroRNAs expression in newly diagnosed chronic myeloid leukemia patients in chronic phase

Introduction: Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is caused by reciprocal translocation in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). This translocation forms BCR-ABL1 oncogene, which alters several signaling pathways that control malignancy. CML has three phases: chronic, accelerated and blast crisis. The microRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) are non-coding RNAs down-regulating their target gene by targeting 3' UTR of mRNA or through translational inhibition. It has been shown that miRNAs regulate many biological processes, and dysregulation of these regulatory RNAs is involved in disease development, particularly in cancer. The important role of miRNAs as therapeutic agents and biomarkers has been demonstrated in CML patients at different phases. Methods: Herein, we used stem-loop RT-PCR to characterize differentially expressed miRNAs of leukocytes in peripheral blood of 50 newly diagnosed CML patients in chronic phase. Results: In this study some onco-miRNAs were down-regulated (miR-155 and miR-106), and some tumor suppressor-miRs (miR-16-1, miR-15a, miR-101, miR-568) were up-regulated. Conclusions: These results show thatactually, hardly miRNAs themselves would be good candidates for CML diagnosis independently of conflicting results, but together could be an additional tool for CML diagnosis.

miR-16-1, miR-15a, miR-101, miR-568