Background: Identification of biomarkers for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is important for treating this malignancy. Recent studies have reported that microRNAs (miRNAs) are stably detectable in the blood/plasma and can be used as biomarkers for various types of cancer including AML. The aim of this study was to analyze miR-223 level in serum as a potential indicator for AML diagnosis and prognosis prediction.
Methods: Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the levels of miR-223 in the serum samples from 131 patients and 70 healthy individuals.
Results: The results revealed that serum miR-223 was underexpressed in AML patients, particularly those in intermediate and unfavorable cytogenetic risk groups. Further analysis revealed that serum miR-223 could yield a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) area under the curve (AUC) of 0.849 with 83.2% sensitivity and 81.4% specificity. Moreover, a significant increase in serum miR-223 level was observed in AML subjects after their treatment. Reduced serum miR-223 level was highly associated with aggressive clinical variables and shorter survival of patients. Furthermore, miR-223 expression was identified to be an independent prognostic predictor of worse overall survival.
Conclusion: In conclusion, miR-223 may be a reliable diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for AML.
Keywords: acute myeloid leukemia; biomarker; miR-223; serum.
© 2019 The Authors. Journal of Clinical Laboratory Analysis published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.