Expression of Peripheral Blood microRNA-126 and Its Prognostic Value in Patients With Acute Myeloid Leukemia

This study aimed to characterize peripheral blood microRNA (miR)-126 expression and evaluate its prognostic significance in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

AML patients (n = 78) and healthy volunteers (n = 81) were enrolled in this retrospective study as the AML and Control groups. Clinical data were collected, and peripheral blood miR-126 expression was measured by RT-qPCR. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves assessed the prognostic value of miR-126. Kaplan-Meier analysis compared survival outcomes between patients with high and low miR-126 expression. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were conducted to determine whether miR-126 was an independent risk factor for overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS).

Peripheral blood miR-126 expression was significantly higher in the AML group than in controls [1.30 (0.51-2.30) vs. 0.42 (0.30-0.62)]. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) of miR-126 to distinguish AML patients from healthy controls was 0.815, with 62.82% sensitivity and 93.83% specificity at a cutoff value of 0.86. Patients with high miR-126 expression had higher proportions of extramedullary infiltration and high-risk European LeukemiaNet classification and significantly shorter OS and PFS. The AUC of miR-126 for predicting poor prognosis was 0.796, with 73.20% sensitivity and 75.70% specificity at a cutoff value of 1.297. After adjustment, miR-126 was confirmed as an independent predictor of reduced OS and PFS.

Elevated peripheral blood miR-126 expression is associated with reduced OS and PFS of patients with AML and may serve as a useful biomarker for prognostic assessment.