Pathogenetic Significance of YBX1 Expression in Acute Myeloid Leukemia Relapse

Genomic abnormalities were established as prognostic and diagnostic markers for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) tumorgenesis and YBX1 gene has important roles in different cancer types.

A total of 109 adult and pediatric patients with De novo AML, were enrolled in this study. Besides the routine lab work; bone marrow YBX1 expression levels were measured using qRT-PCR, and then its possible connections to AML pathogenesis pathway were investigated by STRING tool.

Results demonstrated upregulation of YBX1 expression level in AML patients that was associated with the presence of adverse genomics abnormalities. In adult patients, the level of YBX1 expression was significantly high in relapsed and resistant groups, while in pediatric patients, the level of YBX1 expression showed an inverse pattern as it was highly expressed in complete remission group. STRING analysis highlighted that YBX1 interacts with important factors in the AML signaling pathway. Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that adult patients with highly expressed YBX1 significantly endured shorter disease-free survival (DFS) compared to low YBX1 expressers and there was no impact of YBX1 on adult patients overall survival (OS). While pediatric patients with upregulated YBX1 showed good OS over downregulated patients.

In conclusion, YBX1 may have a crucial role in AML relapse pathogenesis. Also, it could serve as a prognostic factor for AML disease outcomes.