MicroRNA-100 Upregulation And MicroRNAs Dysregulation In Acute Promyelocytic Leukaemia Patients

Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is an M3 subtype of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Several factors could be associated with the development of APL. Epigenetic regulators such as microRNAs (miRNAs) have been reported to be one of the pivotal factors. MiRNA is a non-coding RNA with typically 20-25 nucleotides recognised for playing a crucial role in gene expression regulation. Numerous studies have demonstrated the involvement of miRNAs in the pathogenesis of various diseases, including haematological malignancies. This study aimed to identify distinctive patterns of miRNAs that can serve as novel biomarkers for the diagnosis of APL. In this study, we analysed 800 miRNAs from blood samples obtained from APL patients. A fully automated multiplexed digital platform, Nanostring nCounter® Analysis System was used for miRNA expression analysis. We found that miR-100, miR-125b, miR-34a, miR-181b, miR-181c, and miR-154 were up-regulated, whereas miR-185, miR-194, miR-28, miR-342 and miR-363 were down-regulated in newly diagnosed APL patients. MiR-100 was the most significantly up-regulated miRNA in newly diagnosed APL patients with 425.03-fold change (FC). We conclude that overexpression of miR-100 may act as an oncomiR involved in leukemogenesis and could serve as a diagnostic biomarker for APL.