miR-486-5p: A Prognostic Biomarker for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

MicroRNA miR-486-5p has been reported as a potential biomarker for diagnosis, prognosis, and as a therapeutic target in various cancers. In this study, we analyzed alterations in the expression of miR-486-5p in chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) patients. Initially, the expression of miR-486-5p was studied in the BCR-ABL1+ve CML K562 cell line by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The results indicated that the miR-486-5p expression was significantly upregulated in K562 cells after imatinib exposure, as compared to untreated K562 cells (p-value = 0.047). These observations were corroborated by a hospital-based study of the miR-486-5p expression in peripheral blood leucocytes of 36 CML patients in the chronic phase (CP) and compared with age and sex-matched healthy volunteers as control subjects. qRT-PCR-based quantification revealed significant downregulation of the miR-486-5p expression in newly diagnosed untreated CP-CML patients' samples (2^-ΔCt = 13.19 ± 14.41) as compared to control samples (2^-Δ = 254.5 ± 274.8) (p-value < 0.0001). Levels of miR-486-5p were found to be distinctly elevated in the post-imatinib treatment samples of CML patients (2^-ΔCt = 469.7 ± 312.9) as compared to pre-treatment samples (p-value < 0.0001). CML patients' clinical and hematological responses to imatinib therapy (oral dose of 400 mg OD) were monitored for 12 months. The correlation of pre-treatment miR-486-5p levels with Sokal score indicated that patients with a higher expression of miR-486-5p had better prognoses. Patients with higher pre-imatinib miR-486-5p levels also showed a major hematologic response to imatinib in a shorter time and vice versa. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of alterations in the miR-486-5p expression in peripheral blood leucocytes of CML patients. Our observations support a tumor suppressor role of miR-486-5p in CML. The downregulation of the miR-486-5p expression may be critically important in the disease progression of CML patients. The upregulation of the miR-486-5p expression in post-imatinib exposure K562 cells and CML patients after 12 months of imatinib treatment suggests an onco-suppressor effector role of miR-486-5p in the BCR-ABL downstream signaling pathway. miR-486-5p can be explored as a novel biomarker for the early detection of CML.