Unveiling mitochondrial and ribosomal gene deregulation and tumor microenvironment dynamics in acute myeloid leukemia

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a malignant clonal hematopoietic disease with a poor prognosis. Understanding the interaction between leukemic cells and the tumor microenvironment (TME) can help predict the prognosis of leukemia and guide its treatment. Re-analyzing the scRNA-seq data from the CSC and G20 cohorts, using a Python-based pipeline including machine-learning-based scVI-tools, recapitulated the distinct hierarchical structure within the samples of AML patients. Weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA) was conducted to construct a weighted gene co-expression network and to identify gene modules primarily focusing on hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), multipotent progenitors (MPPs), and natural killer (NK) cells. The analysis revealed significant deregulation in gene modules associated with aerobic respiration and ribosomal/cytoplasmic translation. Cell-cell communications were elucidated by the CellChat package, revealing an imbalance of activating and inhibitory immune signaling pathways. Interception of genes upregulated in leukemic HSCs & MPPs as well as in NKG2A-high NK cells was used to construct prognostic models. Normal Cox and artificial neural network models based on 10 genes were developed. The study reveals the deregulation of mitochondrial and ribosomal genes in AML patients and suggests the co-occurrence of stimulatory and inhibitory factors in the AML TME.