Contribution and prognostic value of TSGA10 gene expression in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML)

Different studies have investigated TSGA10 expression in various cancerous tissues but, so far no study has been conducted on newly diagnosed (ND) AML patients. The association of TSGA10 gene expression with hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) and angiogenic factors has remained to be fully elucidated and is still a controversial issue. The present study was designed to investigate this association in patients newly diagnosed with AML.

We evaluated TSGA10, HIF-1α and VEGF mRNA levels in ND AML patients and healthy subjects using real-time PCR technique. Data were analyzed via comparative Livak method.

Based on the results of this study, TSGA10 gene expression was decreased in 28 out of 30 (93.3%) samples while VEGF and HIF-1α expression levels were increased in all ND AML patients compared to healthy controls. Diagnostic evaluation was performed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and area under the curve (AUC) calculation. Respectively, using cut-off relative quantification of 1.604, 0.0329, and 0.0042, the sensitivity values of TSGA10, VEGF, and HIF-1α gene expression were 86.7%, 90%, and 100%. Also, specificity values were 100%, 100% and 100%, respectively. TSGA10 expression was shown to be reduced in ND AML patients compared with healthy subjects and we found a negative correlation between TSGA10 and VEGF expression.

Since TSGA10 interacts with HIF-1 and affects its transcriptional activity, in ND AML patients with decreased TSGA10 expression, VEGF expression was high suggesting a TSGA10 mediated regulation of HIF-1 target genes. Altogether, the current study showed that TSGA10 could be considered as a tumor suppressor in AML patients.