Overexpression of CTNNB1: Clinical implication in Chinese de novo acute myeloid leukemia

Activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling played a crucial role in tumorigenesis, and β-catenin (CTNNB1) overexpression has been identified in numerous solid tumors. The present study was designed to determine CTNNB1 expression and its clinical significance in Chinese de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. Real-time quantitative PCR was carried out to detect the pattern of CTNNB1 expression in 140 AML patients and 46 controls. The level of CTNNB1 transcript in AML patients was significantly up-regulated compared with controls (P < 0.001). CTNNB1^high patients showed significantly older age than CTNNB1^low patients (P < 0.05). The frequency of high CTNNB1 expression was significantly observed in patients with intermediate/poor karyotypes. CTNNB1^high patients had a significantly lower complete remission (CR) rate than CTNNB1^low patients (P = 0.004). Among cytogenetically normal AML (CN-AML), CTNNB1^high patients presented significantly shorter overall survival (OS, P = 0.004) and leukemia-free survival (LFS, P = 0.038) than CTNNB1^low patients. Multivariate analysis confirmed that CTNNB1 expression was an independent prognostic factor for OS among CN-AML. Moreover, CTNNB1 expression level significantly decreased after CR stage (P = 0.032) and increased in relapsed stage (P = 0.015). Our findings suggest that CTNNB1 is overexpressed and confers a poor prognosis in AML, and could be used as a biomarker in monitoring disease recurrence.