[Expression of MCL-1 and microRNA-29a in extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma tissue]

This study was aimed to explore the expression level and correlation of MCL-1 and miR-29a in extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma (ENKTCL) tissue. Maxvision immunohistochemistry technique and real time fluorescent quantitative PCR were used to detect the expression level of MCL-1 and miR-29a in tissue of 20 patients with ENKTCL and 10 patients with proliferative lymphadenitis, respectively. The results showed that the expression of MCL-1 protein were higher in patients with ENKTCL than that in patients with proliferative lymphadenitis, but there were no significant correlation between MCL-1 overexpression and age, sex, Ann Arbor stage and International Prognostic Index (IPI), respectively. Correlation analysis indicated that there was significant negative correlation between miR-29a expression and MCL-1 expression (r = -0.59, P = 0.016). It is concluded that miR-29a may target MCL-1 gene, regulate its expression, then participate in tumorigenesis and development of ENKTCL.