This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Stem cell commitment-linked methylome highly prognostic in AML
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
A stem cell commitment-associated methylome was independently prognostic of poorer OS among patients with acute myeloid leukemia, according to study results.
The analysis included data from three independent, large patient cohorts consisting of 700 patients with AML. The researchers compared genome-wide cytosine methylation profiles between highly purified long-term hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), short-term HSCs, common myeloid precursors and megakaryocyte-erythrocyte progenitors.
The most significant epigenetic changes occurred during the commitment of short-term HSCs to common myeloid precursors, and these changes were particularly marked by a loss of methylation.
The researchers formulated a metric of the HSC commitment-related methylation pattern, and the signature metric was found to be highly predictive of OS in the three AML cohorts, notwithstanding patient treatment or epigenetic mutations. The use of the epigenetic signature metric was found to be more effective in AML prognosis than assessment of commitment-based gene expression signatures.
Ulrich Steidl
The researchers said these data delineate a stem cell commitment-related methylome that may be useful in identifying patients with a poorer chance of responding to conventional AML treatment.
“AML is a disease in which fewer than 30% of patients are cured,” researcher Ulrich Steidl, MD, associate professor of cell biology and of medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, said in a press release. “Ideally, we would like to increase that cure rate. But in the meantime, it would help if we could identify who won’t benefit from standard treatment, so we can spare them the debilitating effects of chemotherapy and get them into clinical trials for experimental therapies that might be more effective.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts