FLT3-ITD-associated gene-expression signatures in NPM1-mutated cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukemia

Concomitance of the FLT3-ITD mutation is associated with poor prognosis in NPM1-mutated cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukemia (CN-AML) patients, and precise studies on its role in leukemogenesis are needed; these may be elucidated at the molecular level by gene express profiling. In the present study, we built a gene-expression-based classifier using prediction analysis of microarray to characterize the FLT3-ITD signature in NPM1-mutated CN-AML patients, which comprised 10 annotated genes, and demonstrated an overall accuracy of 83.8 % in cross-validation. To characterize the signature in another way, differential expression was revealed for 34 genes by class comparison, and the up-regulation of LAPTM4B and MIR155HG was validated by quantitative RT-PCR in our small cohort of NPM1-mutated CN-AML samples, which appeared to be associated with this specific subtype. The 10-gene classifier and differentially expressed genes identified in this study indicate a potential utility for risk-assessed treatment stratification, and suggest new therapeutic targets for these high-risk AML patients.