Overexpression of the long non-coding RNA PVT1 is correlated with leukemic cell proliferation in acute promyelocytic leukemia

BACKGROUND: Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is associated with chromosomal translocation t(15;17), which results in the proliferation of morphologically abnormal promyelocytes. Gain of supernumerary copies of the 8q24 chromosomal region, which harbors MYC and PVT1, has been shown to be the most common secondary alteration in human APL. Increased MYC can accelerate the development of myeloid leukemia in APL. However, the role that the expression of the long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) PVT1 plays in the pathogenesis of APL remains largely unknown. FINDINGS: In this study, we first analyzed the lncRNA PVT1 expression level in peripheral blood cells from 28 patients with de novo APL, and significantly upregulated PVT1 was found in APL patients compared with healthy donors. We then observed significantly lower MYC and PVT1 expression during all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA)-induced differentiation and cell cycle arrest in the APL cell line. MYC knockdown in NB4 cells led to PVT1 downregulation. Moreover, PVT1 knockdown by RNA interference led to suppression of the MYC protein level, and cell proliferation was inhibited. CONCLUSION: Our findings reveal that the lncRNA PVT1 may play an important role in the proliferation of APL cells and may be useful for future therapeutic management. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13045-015-0223-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.