Transcriptomic landscape of adult de novo acute myeloid leukemia offers prognostic biomarkers and putative targets

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML), caused by an interplay of genetic and epigenetic alterations, is a heterogeneous hematological malignancy characterized by accumulation of proliferative clonal abnormally myeloblasts in the bone marrow and blood. Chemotherapy resistance is common, and relapses occur frequently for the majority of AML patients, indicating a strong need for better therapeutic strategies. The molecular complexity of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) presents a considerable challenge to implementation of clinical genetic testing for accurate risk stratification. Identification of better biomarkers and alternative targeted therapeutic strategies therefore remain a high priority to enable improving established stratification and guiding risk-adapted therapy decisions. RNA-sequencing offers the greatest diagnostic return, enabling identification of whole-transcriptome expression, expressed gene fusions, single nucleotide and short insertion/deletion variants, and alternative splicing information. Therefore, a total of 157 patient bone marrow samples were collected as diagnosis and subjected to RNA-seq. A total of 157 AML patients (age 18-74years; 54.8% males, 45.2% females) were included. Comprehensive gene expression profiling analysis was then performed. --------------------------------- Authors state "Law restrictions prohibit us from publicly sharing raw sequencing data, which however can be made available upon reasonable request and permission of the local ethics committee."