High CXCR2 expression predicts poor prognosis in adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia

This study aimed to assess the associations between clinical parameters, long-term outcomes, and expression of chemokine receptor CXCR2 in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

From May 2013 to May 2017, 83 adult patients newly diagnosed with AML in the Affiliated Hospital of BeiHua University and Jilin Chemical Hospital, were enrolled in this study. The expression of CXCR2 in bone marrow mononuclear cells was determined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Clinical information and RNA-sequencing datasets of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) (n = 136) were obtained. The associations between clinical parameters, prognosis, and CXCR2 expression were analyzed.

From both cohorts, patients with AML with M4 and M5 subtypes showed higher CXCR2 expression levels than those with other French-American-British (FAB) subtypes. Patients with extramedullary leukemia infiltration had higher CXCR2 levels than those without. In our cohort, patients with high CXCR2 levels (⩾2.099) had lower relapse-free survival (RFS) (p < 0.000001) and overall survival (OS) (p = 0.000107) than those with low levels (<2.099). High CXCR2 levels (⩾2.082) also indicated a poor OS in the TCGA cohort but only in patients younger than 65 years (5-year OS: 7.7% versus 29.9% in those with CXCR2 levels < 2.082). High CXCR2 levels independently predicted poor prognosis in AML patients, as determined by Cox proportional hazards models.

Our results suggest that high CXCR2 expression associates with the monocytic lineage of AML and is an independent risk factor for poor patient prognosis.